A new report from Strategy Analytics says Amazon’s Alexa (pictured) took 88% of the global intelligent home speaker market in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Over four million intelligent home speaker were sold globally in the quarter. Strategy Analytic’s report finds that Google’s Assistant achieved 10% share in the quarter following the launch of its ‘Home’ speaker in November.
“Amazon has had a near two year head start over its rivals and has done an excellent job of building out an ecosystem of compatible devices and services or skills,” says David Watkins, director, within the Intelligent Home Group at Strategy Analytics. “However, Google is hot on Amazon’s heels and the search giant should be able to significantly cut Amazon’s lead over the coming year thanks to its superior AI platform and well-established technology licensing model which has proved successful through its Chromecast built-in program.”
Bill Ablondi, director of Strategy Analytics’ Smart Home Strategies research program adds: ”Amazon and Google are not the only players in town of course and we expect that intelligent speakers that incorporate Microsoft’s Cortana and possibly even Apple’s Siri AI assistant will emerge over the next 12 months. We may also see US or European service operators take the lead from South Korea’s SK Telekom and LG Uplus in launching their own intelligent home speakers to help advance their smart home efforts.”
