Over the Christmas period, many tech consumers were able to buy Amazon and Google Virtual Assistants at reduced prices.
The strategy of these American giants to boost sales proved to be a winner: Smart Speakers are now the fastest growing technology. Sales have increased much faster than those of other technologies such as Augmented Reality or Virtual Viewers, which experts predict will definitely break into the market in 2018.
The countries driving the sector
By examining the figures, analysts predict that the market will earn $ 56.3 million from the sale of Smart Speakers this year, with Amazon and Google products at the forefront. The United States will undoubtedly be the country with the most sales, generating almost half of the turnover, followed by China.
The widespread sale of these products in the USA is determined by numerous factors, among which the most important are undoubtedly the language, and the fact that the market has always been an early adopter when it comes to new technologies, compared to, for example, Europe.
For this reason, it is thought that sales will continue to be much higher in the States until 2020, when Smart Speakers should become more widespread in other countries. This will be partly due to the development of new hardware and software that will help lower prices, to an increase in their functions, and to the possibility of interacting in many other languages.
However, although the Chinese market is currently one of the leading players in this sector, it is estimated that sales will decline there in the coming years. The reason is down to the spread of other types of Smart Speaker produced by local vendors such as Alibaba and Xiaomoi, which Chinese consumers generally prefer to US Brands.
One figure among all these data seems to indicate that Amazon will have more success in penetrating this new market, leaving Google behind.
Services connected to Smart Speakers
However, the expected turnover does not stop here.
2018 will not only see the growth of devices in terms of hardware but also of all the associated services, such as premium services and solutions for companies and advertising.
One example of this is that, since October, Amazon has introduced new features only accessible by payment.
Moreover, thanks to its association with Twitch, Fire TV and Amazon.com, the potential for this e-commerce giant is truly immense.
All the data collected by the various platforms in relation to a single user can now be used to create a profiled advertisement, in line with his interests, tastes, and the searches he made on the Internet. At the same time, the potential of this device can be radically increased. So, in addition to simply posting advertisements in push mode, it can advise the user when there is a discount on a product he wanted to buy, or inform him of video content in line with his previous viewing habits.
It is therefore a technology that is rapidly evolving, and whose growth and change is determined by many different players, especially consumers and the way that they use these devices.
By continuing to integrate this technology with other devices, such as smart watches, their usefulness will surely increase. As a result, they will be more attractive both for consumers and for Brands. These conclusions suggest that demand for Smart Speakers in 2020 could be much higher than the experts predict.
Sources: TechCrunch, Pexels