Amazon’s Alexa arrives on Android phones
After making its voice assistant available on iPhones earlier this spring, Amazon is now bringing Alexa to Android users.
This move opens the Alexa “skills” store up wide, to the 77 percent of Americans who own a smartphone. You can now ask Alexa what beers are on tap at your favorite brew pub, where the taco truck is today, even order a pizza anywhere you are, all by asking your phone. No longer do you need to be home and in range of an Amazon-purchased device to hear the daily list of frozen yogurt flavors, turn on the lights or adjust the thermostat, or even play “Jeopardy.”
The integration is rolling out this week.
The news comes on the heels of last week’s Prime Day, which was dominated by devices featuring the virtual assistant: The Echo Dot was the day’s single highest-selling item, while Echo sales overall were seven times higher than the previous year.
In fact, current Echo device owners got an early heads-up about the Android integration by way of the Alexa companion app. In the Alexa app, a notification appeared alerting to a new Alexa device being automatically added to users’ accounts. The new addition, as it turned out, was the Amazon mobile app.
The notification card also includes options to customize Alexa.
Alexa is summoned on a smartphone not through the Alexa app but through the Amazon mobile app — the one you’re already using to shop and track your orders. Simply open the Amazon app and tap the microphone in the top right. You don’t even need to call Alexa by name; just use the skill name and ask away. (“Luna Rosa, what are today’s gelato flavors?”)
Embedding Alexa right in our phones turns what was already a huge opportunity into a massive one: Businesses and brands can now reach more than three-quarters of all Americans without needing to build a custom mobile app costing upwards of tens of thousands of dollars. No more wondering where or whether your post will show up in customers’ social media feeds. No more customer uncertainty about whether the info on a website is as fresh as it could be. You can even send notifications, which will show up as a standard notification on their phone or as a glowing green ring on their Echo speaker.
With 17,000 skills and growing, as well as 70 percent of the voice assistant market, it’s never been a better time to think about how companies can plant their flag in the Alexa space.
Ready to add Alexa to your arsenal?
Want to communicate with your customers, let them know what’s new, even give them an easier way to buy and reorder? Bev creates custom Alexa skills for hospitality and retail brands. Let us know how we can help, hello@myassistantbev.com.
