Amazon Echo will be a game-changer says West Midlands technology expert
THE move by Amazon to introduce its voice-activated Echo speakers to the UK and Germany is a further indication we are nearing the end of the traditional mouse and keyboard interface, a West Midlands technology expert has said.
The devices, which retail for the equivalent of £140, play music from Prime Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn with everything controlled by the voice.
In addition, they can answer questions from the user, read audiobooks and news reports, give information on local businesses and control lights, switches, and thermostats in the house with compatible apps.
Mark Skilton, a Professor of Practice at Warwick Business School, said while the device was a long way from artificial intelligence it was still a significant technological advance.
“We are a long way off where a machine is fully able to think as a human; but the days of the keyboard and mouse are numbered,” said Prof Skilton, who is an expert on technology and the internet of things.
“The point that it does not have a screen is not relevant as when you use it, the voice interaction is natural and the issue is more in learning the range of ‘skills’ it can do to help you.
“The Amazon Echo and its Alexa voice app is an astonishing piece of kit, one that has to be experienced to see why it’s being billed as a ‘game changer’ and why Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos calls it potentially the fourth core Amazon service line after its marketplace, cloud services and Amazon mobile device brands.”
He said there was a generation that had grown up with poor voice recognition and error prone requests on mobile devices but Amazon had stolen a march on its rivals by developing a high precision microphone and voice recognition system built into its marketplace ecosystem a ful 12 months before Google.
“You can order pizza, pay a credit card bill, order books, check your diary, as well as listen to music and news,” said Prof Skilton.
“You can also ask and use the IFTTT integration function to link to many home smart appliances across many brands to switch lights on, set and check home security, switch hot water and heating on or off and control fridges, cookers, TVs and many other things all by simple voice commands.
“This is a very significant development in the rise of the connected home that is one of the major next waves breaking as we move from the PC and mobile era to the smart devices in the home, work and places. This is the first successful product to bridge that gap with a working voice recognition service and connected sensors to your home and to a marketplace supply chain for services your needs.”
