Nowadays, with the ever increasing tendency to use and
utilize devices to improve our standard of living (the smart homes market has a
total value of 35.9 billion US dollars till 2019 and is expected to grow beyond
53.45 billion until 2022) impacted directly the market share with numerous
companies making their way toward it, resulting to the development of new
features through constant competition. The two leaders that emerged through
that conflict were Amazon and Google. Both of them launched their own smart
assistants, with Amazon selling three times more than Google. Despite that the
two giants apart from the acclaim they received for the vast range of features
they offer, they have also undergone serious criticism for various reasons.
Both Amazon
and Google have publicly admitted to be constantly monitoring and streaming
what users say.
Are the rumors true that Google
supplies advertising agencies with user data contributing to a more targeted ad
campaign? Or, that Amazon delivers its services without the consent of its
users to agencies such as the CIA, with which it seems to have signed its most
lucrative contract?
Both companies admit that they do
have thousands of employees analyzing user commands and their sole explanation
was that it is used as a means to make their natural language understanding
better.
A smart home system is meant to be
easy to install, configure and expand, however that does not seem to be the
case for both Google Home and Echo devices.
More specifically, in order to be
able to install new smart devices it is required that users have to go through
configuration of them separately most of the time via third-party apps.
The latter combined with the need
to create multiple accounts, depending on the vendor, often makes expanding and
using new devices anything but simple.
Moreover, a
recent study shows that most smart home users endorse more that anything
setting up timers and stream media, leaving apart all other capabilities. Could
the latter mean that their features are more like purchase baits instead of
what the users actually need?
In addition, it is no
secret that no device is perfect, meaning that there is immense need for a
reliable customer support unit, which in the case of Alexa has long been
criticised for its absence in responding to customers.
In a
society constantly evolving, human relations tend to be undergoing serious
strikes due to fast-paced modern way of life. Why not be able to communicate
with someone else without leaving the convenience of your place? Google Home,
though, does not offer you the chance for a personalized way of interaction
since it does not support video chat and Alexa on the other hand will charge
your skype account for it.
In conclusion, these days, smart home trends seem to be fulfilled by smaller companies, such as the solution offered by DEN, the plug-and-play Housemate package or Whyd, that offer more targeted and reliable smart home solutions, instead of tech giants such as Google or Amazon, whose end product quality shadows the possibilities their smart assistants offer.
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/11/google-home-assistant-listen-recordings-users-privacy
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/24/amazon-alexa-recorded-conversation
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-10/is-anyone-listening-to-you-on-alexa-a-global-team-reviews-audio
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-24/amazon-s-alexa-reviewers-can-access-customers-home-addresses
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/alexa.com
https://getden.co.uk/
https://whyd.com/?ref=producthunt
https://housemate.online