As Google attempts to expand its brand with several hardware releases this year, including its all-new phone, Pixel, one product went by quietly: Google Home, the tech giant's virtual home assistant and rival to Amazon's Echo. Great Black Friday deals, however, seek to move Google Home into the hands of consumers, and analysts think it may not be too long before the product becomes a household staple.
For the annual sale frenzy, Google Home will be discounted at Best Buy, Target and Walmart over the Thanksgiving week by 23 percent, from $129 to $99. This is half the price of Amazon's flagship Echo, which has been on the market for three years now.
According to the LA Times, virtual home assistants aren't understood clearly enough by consumers to make a significant dent in the marketplace. A professor who spoke to the Times, Marlene Morris Towns of the McDonough School of Business, said it was apparent both Amazon and Google are investing heavily in holiday promotions. The goal of both producers is to turn a virtual home assistant from a novelty item into a must-have.
Google Home seems poised to do just that, given its utility and value. According to BGR, the virtual assistant, powered by Google's groundbreaking artificial intellignece, has access to Google's "vast ecosystem" of information. It uses it to perform a litany of tasks, like answering questions, planning one's schedule, interacting with other devices, streaming music and shopping online. And all of this can be accomplished by simply speaking to the device: no hands needed.
According to a writer at CIO, what really gives Google Home the edge over Amazon's Echo is its ability to understand and follow conversation much like any human would. It can follow a line of questioning, unlike the Echo, which can only process single thoughts at a time. Both assistants will be on promotion this Black Friday, and it remains to be seen which one will make greater inroads in the market.
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