Ask Alexa when she’s heading Down Under and she’ll now have an answer.
Amazon’s line ofAlexa-enabledEcho smart speakers start shipping in Australia and New Zealand in early February, and are available now for pre-order, the company hasannounced. ItsMusic Unlimitedstreaming service will also be made available from February 1.
While it’s been possible to import and set up an Echo speaker in the antipodean nations, local support will of course make it a whole lot more useful asAlexa’s list of skillssteadily increases. Aussies and Kiwis can choose from Amazon’s classicEcho speakerfor 119 Australian dollars (about $95 in the U.S.) as well as others inits growing range, including theBuy Nowfor AU$49 ($39), andBuy Nowfor AU$199 ($159) — all powered by Alexa. And take note, those prices include introductory discounts of AU$30 ($24).
Amazon finally launched its online store in Australia toward the end of 2017, with businessreportedlyalready brisk.
Toni Reid, vice president of Amazon Alexa,saidrecently that customer response to Alexa and the company’s line of Echo smart speakers has been “incredibly positive,” and that her team was looking forward to making them available for shoppers in Australia and New Zealand.
Reid added that Amazon was also looking forward to seeing what kind of innovative Alexa experiences developers in the two countries will bring to the platform.
Amazon’s Echo speaker is currently available in a limited number of markets, namelythe United Kingdom and Germany, and more recently India and Japan.
So what about Apple’s HomePod and Google Home?
Apple’s smartHomePod speakerwill make it to Australia in early 2018, but Google’s effort,Google Home, is already available there, helping out users in the local accent.
In a recent interview with Australian media, Google Home product manager Raunaq Shahexplainedthat a lot of effort has gone into preparing Google’s smart speaker for the local market.
“We hired a team of writers to include all of the exclusively Australian words we wanted the system to recognize, while also adding some unique Aussie flavor to the responses … it’s so exciting to release a product that looks, sounds, and feels like an authentic Australian.”
With the Echo, Google Home, and HomePod soon to be selling alongside each other for the first time in Australia, the battleamong the tech giantsfor smart-home supremacy Down Under is set to begin in earnest in 2018.
Update: Added launch date and prices.
