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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the 回声 dept.

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.

Related:
Amazon Rolls out Chatbot Tools in Race to Dominate Voice-Powered Tech
Amazon Dominates Voice-Controlled Speaker Market


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  • (Score: 2) by J_Darnley on Thursday July 06 2017, @08:01PM

    by J_Darnley (5679) on Thursday July 06 2017, @08:01PM (#535847)

    Maybe this time people will believe that this is an always on microphone except for the Chinese spies.

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