Amazon made its long-rumored screen-based Echo Show device official just earlier this day. It is basically a cuboid Echo with a camera and touchscreen attached to it. The Echo Show supports all of the far-field voice commands like the original device, so a user can use it to control smart home gadgets, command to play music, add items to a shopping cart and do thousands of other things.
The New Amazon's Echo Show is a touchscreen communication gadget powered by the company’s very own artificial intelligence (AI) voice assistant Alexa. After few hours of its release, Gizmodo got an email from a PR firm representing the company Nucleus. The email stated that “Amazon is out for blood - the Echo Show is proof.”
Aside from that, Nucleus also states that last August, the firm launched the first Alexa-enabled touchscreen device for both audio and video communication. And in September, Nucleus announced its Series A round managed by The Alexa Fund, which is operated by Amazon. Nucleus raised a total of $5.6 million in its Series A round, but it is not clear until now how much money came from The Alexa Fund.
CEO and co-founder of Nucleus, Jonathan Franke, includes Amazon's Alexa voice assistant in its system intercom that costs $249. On the other hand, the new Echo Show is priced at $230 and both could be described in pretty much the same way. When both companies were talking about the touchscreen Echo Show, Frankel claims that Amazon never built it as a communication device.
The Echo Show dominating Nucleus might create a chilling impact for companies looking to create products using the AI Alexa, as reported by CNET. Frankel said that he and his team is now considering options but is most determined on teaming up with other companies that may be threatened and soon rival the Echo Show. These companies will band together against Amazon and those include tech titans, telecommunications service providers, and other retailers.
