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Amazon has expanded the availability of its Echo line of smart speakers and Amazon Music Unlimited service to 28 new countries, reportsVentureBeat. The additional markets are spread throughout Europe and Latin America, and include Belgium, Chile, Peru, Poland, and Greece.
Amazon has been ramping up availability of its Echo smart speakers globally in recent months. Beyond the US, UK, and Germany, where the devices have been available since last year, Amazon also launched its speakers in Japan, India, and Canada recently, allowing consumers in those countries to buy the device and use the Alexa voice assistant without restrictions.
It’s also included language support in those countries, adding Japanese and Indian English to the already included American English, British English, and German. However, a number of major markets in both Europe and Latin America are still missing from the Echo’s availability map, including France, Spain, Italy, Brazil, and Argentina.
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Notably, Amazon hasn’t added any additional language support for its latest markets.Though many consumers in the countries that Amazon is moving the Echo into speak supported languages — Peru has a sizable Japanese-speaking population and many Poles speak German, for example — the potential buyers Amazon’s trying to entice to buy the smart speaker won’t be able to use their native language to speak to Alexa. That could potentially limit how much consumers in the new markets will take to the speakers.
Not adding local language support is a puzzling move, and could hinder engagement.Alexa is equipped with only three languages after three years on the market, and hasn’t expanded to any of the widely spoken Romance languages like Spanish, French, or Italian. Consumers aren’t likely to use a smart speaker to buy products — Amazon’s main business, and the primary way it gets revenue from these devices — in a language other than their native tongue. As such, Amazon isn’t likely to see its speakers take off in these countries until it introduces full local language support. Moreover, in the meantime, it's vulnerable to local competitors.
- Apple’s HomePod looks likely to find a place in the smart speaker market but won’t dominate its space like the iPhone or iPad did.