[NetEase smart news September 1 news] Although it seems unlikely, but Amazon and Microsoft have already married Alexa and Cortana. As Apple and Google begin to encroach on the market for Echo smart speakers powered by Alexa, this collaboration will help the two companies make up for their serious deficiencies in their "you can yell about devices." However, no matter what kind of help Alexa and Cortana get from each other's code, it does not mean that they can solve the biggest problem now: There is no smart phone.
Alexa and Cortana can do more things together. And they all need to get all the help they can get in the increasingly fierce competition. However, there are restrictions on cooperation, and there are many, even more so that Amazon and Microsoft are eager to bring their smart assistant into the mobile phone field. If this is not done, they will not go far. Holding someone else's hand will not make you slip faster and faster.
The enemy of the enemy is a friend, but 1+1>2?
At least on paper, this cooperation is very meaningful. Amazon and Microsoft have different advantages, and their voice assistants also reflect this.
James McQuayy, Forrester Research’s lead analyst, said: “For the two companies, this cooperation has indeed filled some gaps.†No one can beat Amazon in the retail sector, and Microsoft has a blank in the shopping field. And there is no idea of ​​starting from scratch. Because of its Office 365 suite of products, Microsoft will bring you a familiar feeling, and this is what Amazon can only dream of.
Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos stated in a press statement announcing this cooperation: “There will be more successful smart assistants in the future, and they will have different databases and different professional fields. If they can cooperate, they will complement each other and provide customers with a richer and more beneficial experience. For Echo users, easy access to Cortana will be a good thing.â€
So far it sounds good. However, at least for now, access to Alexa through Cortana or Corta in turn through Alexa is not that easy. To access Cortana through Alexa, you need to say "Alexa, open Cortana" and then give instructions. vice versa. The voice assistant's fun comes from its seamless experience, while supporting two voice assistants will bring a huge crack to the experience.
Of course, in the end, as Bezos said to foreign media, Alexa and Cortana's products will be able to automatically analyze every request and call better smart assistants in the field. In theory, it seems very good. But in reality, it can be very tricky.
“First of all, the two companies must agree on which smart assistants are in which areas. For the time being, this is not a problem, because they are largely complementary and not competitive.†Focus on consumer technology products Jane Dawson, the founder of consulting firm Jackdaw?research, said. But this is under the premise of no functional update. As Alexa and Cortana continue to evolve, especially as the latter has begun to enter the living room, it will seem less obvious to assume different tasks.
"Who is the ultimate winner? Will it depend on the equipment you use?" Dawson asked.
All questions are left for future discussion. In addition, Cortalexa has to overcome a bigger challenge than the equipment people use to talk to them. That is the equipment that people do not use to talk to them.
Strong and strong alliances are important, but entering the field of mobile phones is king
Although Alexa and Cortana can be seen in millions of devices - smart speakers, peripherals, personal computers, and they have a huge impact on your life, they are still missing Google assistants and Apple's What Siri has: A mobile ecosystem that knows where you are and what you need at all times. This is a huge obstacle and there is no way to overcome this cooperation.
Dawson said: "These two companies have not achieved significant improvement in the mobile sector, and this area is by far the largest voice assistant market, but the two companies in this area are almost no sense of existence."
Both Microsoft and Amazon have tried to make breakthroughs and have achieved varying degrees of success. In the Google Play store, Cortana apps have between 1 million and 5 million downloads. Although it is a fairly good number, it is not comparable to the number of iPhones equipped with Siri and the number of Android devices equipped with Google Assistant. Amazon went further and used its very popular online shopping app to sneak Alexa into the iOS platform. It recently took a leading position on HTC's flagship product.
However, this is not enough.
McQuevie said: "They have introduced a lot of interesting things, but no one can solve the problem of mobile." In response, Microsoft rejected the reporter's request for an interview, and Amazon did not respond to reporters' inquiries.
By positioning Alexa as a home stereo, Amazon has achieved a leading position in voice assistance in an important area. But without an ecosystem that is more widely diggable, unless you count online shopping as an ecosystem, you are blind to it when you eat, work, and exercise. The same is true of Cortana, which is mainly on the computer interface and cannot provide proactive services like Google Assistant or Siri.
Of course, there are blind spots for Apple and Google in turn. Amazon's advantage at home has not met true challengers, but this situation is rapidly changing. Apple will soon launch its HomePod with siri, a gorgeous, but possibly expensive, smart speaker. Google has just announced three speakers and home appliances equipped with Google assistants, and there will be more products in the future. In early October, audio darling Sonos will launch a speaker that can use multiple voice assistants. A blue ocean was filled with people in a flash.
Dawson said: "Apple and Google will enter the field of home loudspeakers in the coming months. They are very powerful and can provide you with ubiquitous voice services." Currently, most people only use Echo and Cortana at home. Even if the two voice assistants work together, people will still only use them at home.
It is worth celebrating that large technology companies collaborate instead of pulling each other in closed gardens like smartphones. (Yes, Alexatana!) The choice of consumers should be the same. (Wow, Cortalexa!) However, although Amazon and Microsoft have filled each other's gaps, they still face a huge gap. After they found a way to put a voice assistant on a smartphone, for example, once again before creating their own smartphone, this situation will not change.
[English Source: Wired Author:? Brian Barrett compilation:? NetEase see foreign intelligence platform compiler revision: Yang Yuedong]
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