New report analyzes voice assistant usage, explores future use in commerce

So far, voice assistants are commonly used to access audio entertainment, but as the technology advances, the next step could involve commerce and shopping. Voicebot and Voysis have collaborated on a report pointing to the future of voice shopping. The analysis predicts that, due to the high rates of ownership (79.8%), many people will first be introduced to voice assistant shopping on smartphones. Continue Reading

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Sonos Beam soundbar brings agnostic voice assistant to the living room for an entry-level price

Sonos has taken its ambitious next step into the smart speaker space with a new product that supports multiple voice assistants and changes the form factor. The Sonos Beam is a sound bar, a much larger device than the most popular tabletop smart speaker designs currently on the market, that’s capable of providing quality audio for a range of entertainment purposes in small- or medium-sized rooms. Continue Reading

Rumor Fact(ory): Spotify may be working on a voice-controlled speaker for cars

Spotify recently made waves in the financial sector with its unique direct listing, but the company’s next move is expected to be firmly back in the tech space. Spotify is hosting an event on April 24 to share its latest development. According to the early reports and speculation, that development may be a piece of dedicated hardware for streaming Spotify via voice control in a car. Continue Reading

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Amazon has “tens of millions” of paying music customers, as smart speakers drive subscription growth

Things are looking good for Amazon’s musical efforts these days. Amazon is amassing a growing music audience that now numbers “tens of millions” of paying customers, while its Amazon Music Unlimited program has more than doubled its subscriber count in the past six months. The success of smart speakers and a growing number of Prime membership subscribers have been the main factors in Amazon’s music audience expansion, according to a top exec. Continue Reading

Survey: More than 40% of smart speaker owners stream music daily

Nearly 20% of U.S. adults now own a smart speaker, according to a survey spearheaded by Voicebot, in collaboration with PullString and RAIN Agency (not the same as RAIN News). Extrapolated, the results from its survey of more than 1,000 adults indicate that about 47.3 million people own the devices. Nearly two-thirds of all households said they own just one smart speaker. Continue Reading