Audio Video News

All Eyes (and Ears) on Voice Control

SV Staff  |  Mar 16, 2016

The success of Amazon’s voice-controlled Echo speaker/personal assistant apparently has AV companies scrambling.

As Ken Pohlmann pointed out in his new blog, Sonos is undergoing a period of rigorous self-examination as it navigates what CEO John MacFarlane calls “an industry in transition.”

Layoffs and the candid admission that Sonos missed an opportunity are at the core of what amounts to an attempt to reinvent the company. “We're fans of what Amazon has done with Alexa and the Echo product line...,” MacFarlane said. “The Echo found a sweet spot in the home and will impact how we navigate music, weather, and many, many other things..... Voice is a big change for us, so we'll invest what's required to bring it to market in a wonderful way."

Yesterday, audio stalwart Denon, which jumped into the wireless speaker fray in 2014 with its Heos line (and was promptly sued by Sonos for patent infringement), announced that it has created a new positon: senior product manager, voice user interface (VUI).

From the press release:

D+M is pleased to announce that Robby Kilgore has joined the company as the new Senior Product Manager, Voice User Interface (VUI). This new position reflects the company’s focus and drive to excel into the rapidly growing technology area of Voice User interface (VUI).

…Robby will be responsible for developing, leading and implementing the company’s voice user interface strategy across D+M’s entire product portfolio…

As more audio companies hear the call of voice control, it will be interesting to watch how they integrate it into future products.

COMMENTS
MatthewWeflen's picture
Submitted by MatthewWeflen on March 18, 2016 - 7:19am

I think people are overstating how wonderful the Echo and Alexa are. I would guess that Alexa can answer MAYBE 50% of our questions, and gets our requests for music right about half the time, also. And it's not because we have marbles in our mouth.

Also, there is a fundamental issue with having to remember a list of 1000+ things off the top of your head. The Echo needs a screen, or a projector against he table, or something.

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