Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

Amazon's Alexa Speaks To The Connected Home

The Amazon Echo (more commonly known as “Alexa” based on the keyword voice command that triggers the female-sounding response) came on the market in November of 2014 to generally positive acclaim. The Siri-like voice interface proved to be quite capable in playing selected music, answering a question about the weather, or ordering a pizza delivery from Domino’s. But since Amazon opened their voice technology to developers last year, there has been an explosion of new uses for Alexa based directly on connected products within the home as consumers are finding it a lot easier to talk to one device whenever they need something done.

“We started thinking about Echo and Alexa and it was hard for us to imagine in a couple of years any kind of interaction with technology that would not be voice driven,” said David Isbitski, the chief evangelist for Alexa. Isbitski spoke on Tuesday at the CONNECTIONS Home Conference hosted by Parks Associated in South San Francisco, California.

From the article "Amazon's Alexa Speaks To The Connected Home" by Mark Albertson.

Previously In The News

Voice Shopping Starting To Catch On

Other recent studies suggest the number may be even higher. Parks Associates estimates that 28% of households already have a smart speaker and IDC says the Amazon Echo and Google Home devices will acc...

Long Battery Life Now Top Feature For Smartwatch Buyers

The leading feature when purchasing a smartwatch is long battery life, followed by whether it is simple to operate, according to Parks Associates. The most important features after this are water resi...

The U.S. May be Near Saturation for Streaming Video Services

That's the dilemma for the growing ranks of providers, now pegged by Parks Associates at around 200 in the U.S. alone. Just last week, AT&T said it will introduce a service with HBO and other fare fro...

Top 10 Most Popular Streaming Services, According to New Report

Netflix is king among streaming services, but a new report has estimated how the others fall in line. “HBO, Starz, Showtime and CBS All Access demonstrate the powerful attractiveness of original co...