We have a new member of the household named Alexa. She’s young and slim and takes orders as quick as you can dish them out. But I’m not jealous – not yet anyway.
Alexa is Amazon’s new voice-activated personal assistant.
While voice recognition has been available on phones for years, Amazon takes it to an entirely new level. Through its Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) Amazon offers developers a collection of self-service APIs and tools that make it easy to create new voice-driven capabilities, like ordering pizza or getting your Fitbit results.
The Smart Home Skill is a new addition to the Alexa Skills Kits and allows companies to add value to their products with skills to control cloud-connected devices. Features include the ability to turn on your sprinklers, lock your doors, or adjust the thermostat.
For marketers, this platform offers new ways to interact with users in a more natural interface.
“Alexa, can you take the dog for a walk?”