Move over Siri – Amazon has a new interactive device with its own unique voice. The new product is called ‘Amazon Echo’ – a device designed around the users’ voice and it is always on and ready to respond to requests for music, news, information, weather, and more.
The product has multiple microphones which can hear the user from any direction, even if it is playing music. It uses an on-device keyword spotting to detect the wake word, which then streams audio to the cloud, and leverages Web services to recognize and respond to requests. Want to know how tall Mount Everest is, or the latest weather prediction? Just ask Echo and it will quickly search out the correct answer. It even has the ability to learn and adapt to speech patterns, vocabulary, and person preferences. There is also an app available for Fire OS, Android, iOS, and desktop browsers so that it is still available even when the user is not at home.
Echo is currently only available by invitation (request an invite on Amazon.com). The price for Prime members is $99, and for non-Prime members at $199.
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Discuss the importance of clearly defining a target market.
- Show the Web site for Amazon’s Echo: http://www.amazon.com/oc/echo/ref_=ods_dp_ae
- What is the target market for this product?
- Divide students into teams and have each team develop a profile of a target market. Include demographics, psychographics, behaviors, values, attitudes, etc.
- Based on the target market profile, what makes this product unique for these customers?
- Debrief the exercise.
