Alexa at 4: Amazon offers big discounts on Echo, FireTV and more devices in India
Amazon to mark the fourth anniversary of the Alexa digital assistant in India, on Tuesday (February 15) kicked off new promotional sale campaign in India with huge discounts on Echo line of smart speakers, Fire TVs, and even third-party devices.
Depending on the model, Echo smart speakers are available with up to 50 per cent discount on Amazon website.
Discounts on Echo speakers:
Flat 50% off on Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen)
Flat 20% off on Echo Dot (3rd Gen)
Flat ₹6,000 off on Echo Show 8 (1st Gen)
Flat 40% off on Echo Flex
Flat ₹1,300 off on Echo Dot (4th Gen)
Flat ₹1,300 off on Echo Dot (4th Gen) with clock
Besides Echo speakers, the company is offering up to 48 per cent off on FireTV Stick Lite, FireTV Cube, FireTV 4K Max, and even AmazonBasics smart LED TVs are available with 47 per cent discount.
Furthermore, select models of Xiaomi, OnePlus, and other branded phones, which come with Alexa support are being offered up to Rs 10,000 discount.
Even Alexa built-in smartwatches, speakers, and other devices offered by boAt, Noise, Zebronics, and more are available with up to 30 per cent discount on Amazon.
The promotional sale is for 48 hours and will conclude on February 16 at 11:59 pm IST.
It should be noted that Amazon offers special Alexa service in the iconic Amitabh Bacchan's baritone voice with a subscription for Rs 149 per year.
Users just need to ask, “Amit ji, play songs from Kabhi Kabhi'' or “Amitji, Sholay ke gaane bajaiye” or simply say “Amit ji, tell us a funny story” to hear some fun behind-the-scenes info.
Also, they can ask Amazon Echo devices to read birthday wishes to people with Bacchan's voice by saying "Amit ji, it’s my birthday”.
Furthermore, recently, Mahindra launched the XUV700 with Alexa digital assistant support. Customers can enjoy hands-free control of vehicle functions along with the full Alexa experience when they are on the go.
Amazon also shared some interesting trivia about how Indians have grown to like Alexa over the years. It said that customers on average ask Alexa to play more than 21.6 lakh songs per day. Genre such as kids, devotional and regional language are top preferences among people.
Besides fulfilling entertainment-related requests, Echo device owners depend on Alexa to control smart gadgets at home and there has been 72% year-over-year (yoy) with new products from brands like Xiaomi, OnePlus, Hindware, and Stomberg.
Apparently, Alexa responded to over 2.6 lakh requests for controlling smart home appliances every day.
Also on average, people ask more than 1.7 lakh questions related to sports, movie dialogs, and word definitions to tough math problems, weather, and the latest stock market updates.
During March-April 2021, customers asked 11,500 questions every day about COVID, health, and wellness-related topics. Amazon noted that customers also loved starting and concluding their days with Alexa, they wished “Alexa, good morning” and “Alexa, good night” 11,520 times every day.
Amazon has revealed that it has improved the speech recognition algorithm of Alexa so that the latter can respond with the right answers. So far, the company has been able to reduce Automatic Speech Recognition errors by 25%. "The team also drove numerous initiatives towards algorithmic improvement of Alexa’s understanding of English and Hindi, leading to a 27% improvement in Alexa’s Natural Language Understanding. They equipped Alexa with hundreds of new words from the Hindi vocabulary, used machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to help Alexa understand different ways in which customers can ask for the same information. These improvements have made interactions with Alexa more natural," Amazon added.
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