After four months of being in an invite only stage, Alexa and Echo devices became available for India users in February 2018. During the second year we launched Echo devices in different form factors. Many Indian brands also launched devices with Alexa built-in. Simultaneously, Alexa continued to get smarter and more Indian with the launch of Hindi language support.
Enclosed is a roundup of highlights from the last year:
NEW DEVELOPMENTS
- 16 Echo devices available in India: The range of Echo devices now includes smart speakers, smart displays, a car accessory and Echo companion devices. Devices launched in the last year are: Echo Input, Echo Flex, Echo Dot with clock, Echo Auto, Echo Input Portable, All-new Echo, Echo Show 5, Echo Show 8, Echo Show, Echo Studio, Echo Link and Echo Link Amp.
- Made for customers in India, a wireless Echo device: The Echo Input Portable smart speaker combines hands-free access to Alexa with a 4,800 mAh rechargeable battery. Now, users can carry their Echo smart speaker anywhere in their homes.
- Alexa is now built-in on a phone: Xiaomi launched Redmi Note 8 Pro, the first smartphone to offer hands-free Alexa built-in for Indian customers.
- More choice to access Alexa from: Today there are 80 different products across 22 brands ranging across smart speakers, TVs, hearables and wearables that come with Alexa. New devices launched include LG TV, HP Pavilion, Qubo - first Alexa built-in Smart indoor camera, boAt stone 200A portable speaker and Fitbit versa 2.
- More smart home appliances to control with Alexa: There are hundreds of smart home appliances compatible with Alexa covering diverse categories like bulbs, plugs, locks, cameras, ceiling fans, TV’s, Air conditioners, and Air purifiers. New smart home devices that work with Alexa include Orient Fan, Onida AC, Wipro Smart Batten (Tube light), Mi Smart LED Bulb, Oakter Infrared remote, One Plus TV, and Wipro Smart home Security gadgets.
NEW ALEXA FEATURES
- Alexa is now bi-lingual: She can now speak in English, Hindi/ Hinglish. That means twice the amount of jokes, songs, stories and conversations, all with a desi flavour.
- Pay utility bills by speaking to Alexa: Alexa now supports payment of bills across categories such as electricity, water, post-paid mobile, cooking gas, broadband, DTH and more with Amazon Pay. This is an India-first feature.
- Alexa on Fire TV: Searching and selecting movies or TV shows, is now just a voice command away. It’s not just the binging experience, Alexa’s jokes, stories, general knowledge and conversations can also be enjoyed on Fire TV.
- Additional privacy control: Now customers can choose to have their voice recordings older than three or 18 months automatically deleted on an ongoing basis. This feature is available in addition to the ability to access and delete utterances individually, or all at once.
- Alexa’s got skills: The Alexa skills catalogue has expanded to over 30,000 in English and over 800 in Hindi. These include DishTV D2H skill, BFF with Vogue, Shemaroo Bhagvad Gita, OnePlus, PVR cinemas, KFC, Hungama Music Video, HealthifyMe, Cyrus Says, Domino's Pizza, Vir the Robot Boy, Shilpa Shetty Yoga, DreamXI, and Pearson Hindi Vyakran.
- Karaoke nights are back in style: Customers can now sing along with their favourite songs, with lyrics available on Echo devices with screen and on Fire TV when a song plays.
- Alexa’s love for Bollywood: You can ask Alexa for dialogues from a host of films, actors, and even with a film-actor combination. Want some Shah Rukh Khan-DDLJ one-liners! You got it.
- Alexa can now whisper: Gone are the days of waking up your spouse or a sleeping child when asking Alexa for information. Whisper Mode is a new feature that allows you to whisper to Alexa, and she will whisper her response back to you.
- More sources of music: Alexa may have launched with two music providers. Now, she is home to six providers with a seemingly unending bank of music from all over the world. These include Amazon Prime Music, JioSaavn, Hungama Music, Apple Music, Gaana, and TuneIn
MOST ENGAGING ALEXA INTERACTIONS
- Indians asked ‘’Alexa, how are you’’ 8 times every minute and “Alexa, kaisi ho?’’ 3 times every minute in 2019!
- Alexa emerged as the most eligible bachelorette in India in 2019. Indians confessed their love once every minute by saying, “Alexa, I love you” and asking “Alexa, will you marry me?” at least once every second minute.
- On-demand music is no doubt one of the most liked quality of Alexa. In 2019, Alexa got over 1000 songs requests every minute!
- Hanuman Chalisa, Baby Shark, and Lamberghini were the top requested songs to Alexa in 2019. Hanuman Chalisa -was played more than 4 times every minute, Baby Shark was played 3 times every minute and Lamberghini was played twice every minute in 2019.
- Sure, Alexa has a great voice. But did you know she can make animal sounds too? In fact, they are so good, that customers asked for them over 10 times every minute in 2019.
- Alexa has been quite the storyteller. And now with a bank of Hindi stories as well, she narrated at least one story in Hindi every minute last year.
- Introducing Alexa, your new sous chef! Armed with recipes from some of India’s leading culinary experts, she helped over 1000 customers to cook every day in 2019.
- From the speed of light, to why water is wet, and why is the sky blue, Alexa helped Indians with at least 50 factual questions every minute in 2019.
- India Pakistan matches are always thrilling. And Alexa was in on it! Customers asked for India’s score four times more than any other Cricket World Cup game. Customers also spent at least three hours a day listening to news related to World Cup.
- Alexa helped more than 500 customers to locate their mobile phones every-day when they get misplaced.
