Smart speakers have already started to find their place in Indian homes with the last year launched Amazon Echo speakers. Google has decided to enter the India market with its Home range of smart speakers. The speakers are aimed towards home automation with localized Voice Match feature and are said to be unveiled on April 10.
Google is expected to the launch the devices in India on April 10. The official Google India twitter handle has confirmed through a tweet that the two devices are going to be launched in India. Amazon has recently launched its echo line-up of speakers – echo dot, echo, and echo plus in India. Google’s this launch seems like a calculated move to capture the home automation market in India, in its nascent stage. The imported Google Home devices have started receiving a Bluetooth speaker pairing update recently which added new services to the Media Accounts menu. The menu now has support for streaming services such as Saavn and Gaana, although the voice integration with services is unavailable as of now.
Last month, Google Assistant has received an update that enabled the support for Hindi. Also, a new English (India) language option was spotted on local devices. The option enables a Voice Match feature which is a language recognition model that Google has developed specifically for India. The new Voice Match feature would be able to differentiate different dialects and provide appropriate answers. It also said to be capable of differentiating each and every family member and respond to their commands accordingly. Although the speech recognition on the Google smart speakers is shoddy at best, according to early user reports. The new smart speakers from Google probably would be priced similarly to the echo range from Amazon.
Google has already started expanding its library with the integration of Saavn and Gaana if it has competed with the likes of Amazon’s echo line-up which has a plethora of services already available. Google’s home speakers come with interchangeable bases, which should be sold separately if ever you wish to change your home speaker’s look. The news is based on the Redington India’s communication with its retail partners.
Since the Google mini is a direct answer to Amazon’s echo line-up the prices of the home speakers should be close the Amazon’s smart speakers. The Alexa powered Amazon Echo dot cost ₹ 4499, the Echo is priced at ₹ 9999 and the Echo Plus would cost ₹ 14,999, in India. The Google Home Mini speaker retails for $ 49 (₹ 3299) in the US, while the bigger Google Home costs $ 129 (₹ 8400). If Google decides to price the new speakers similar to what it retails for in the US, then the Home speakers would have a slight edge over Amazon’s offerings.
