Alibaba's version of the digital personal assistant will be available on August 8th only in China and without a display:
Alibaba's "Tmall Genie X1" will go for 499 yuan ($73) to the first 1,000 people during a one-month trial, coming in below Apple's $349 HomePod and the roughly $180 Echo. Its biggest competitor, Tencent Holdings Ltd., is developing a voice-activated digital speaker that could hit the market within months, Tencent President Martin Lau said in a May interview. And on Wednesday, Baidu Inc. showed off its own "DuerOS" personal assistant.
Taking a page from Amazon.com Inc. and Google, Hangzhou-based Alibaba's speaker offers voice-controlled services from music streaming to newscasts and calendar-booking, according to its website. Importantly, the gadget -- powered by the AliGenie system -- may eventually simplify shopping for the Chinese e-commerce giant's 450 million active buyers who turn to the website for everything from cherries to makeup.
Originally spotted on The Eponymous Pickle.
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(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:18PM (1 child)
Have you considered paying Chinese megacorps to spy on you constantly?
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:43PM
At least you know what you're getting. With "US" corps, you're assuming some good-ol' Delaware guys are spying on you, but then it turns out that it's legally Irish companies, but with a Dutch piece, and then some Caimans get involved...