Digital Assistants Include Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home/Alexa and Similar Software Power Third-Party Developers

Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft are competing to offer the best voice-activated systems that can do anything from reporting the time and weather, to playing music on request, to performing web searches, to telling jokes, to making purchases from internet sites and operating appliances and thermostats. These platforms utilize the latest in artificial intelligence and machine learning in order to become more useful over time. Apple’s Siri is available on iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and through an app in some vehicles.

Google Now is an app available on a variety of mobile devices as is Microsoft’s Cortana app. Amazon’s Alexa web app is installed on a gadget called Amazon Echo that sits on a countertop, desk or shelf. Alexa software can be installed on other devices as well. Google offers a similar device called Google Home. All of these apps and platforms are voice-activated and use connections to other apps and systems to find information and take actions, through voice-activation. In appropriately equipped smart homes, they can connect with apps relating to climate control, lighting and/or security enabling users to simply say, for example, “Set home temperature to 72 degrees,” or “Activate alarm system,” and have the action performed, even from remote locations. Amazon offers an extensive line of such smart home devices, and Google offers smart devices such as speakers, displays, thermostats and cameras.

Importantly, most systems are open to third-party developers. For example, Amazon has opened “Lex” to developers, which is the artificial intelligence engine behind the Alexa and Echo platforms. Lex is tied into Amazon’s AWS cloud computing system. Software and product developers can incorporate Lex, enabling voice-activated or click-activated responsiveness (often in the form of specific task-oriented icons or apps known as “bots”). This gives these developers instant access to extremely powerful cloud computing, artificial intelligence and voice-activation in one easy-to-launch package. Amazon charges a modest fee per thousand uses or data accesses. This ease-of-use has spurred a tidal wave of new product development worldwide, with the potential to revolutionize the manner in which consumers interface with their digital devices and the internet. Smart device and digital assistant manufacturers have banded together to adopt a technology standard called “Matter” to evolve their devices to communicate with various platforms. By 2025, there were over 600 million Alexa-powered devices worldwide.

Alexa+ adds GenAI tools: In February 2025, Amazon announced that it has enhanced Alexa by adding generative AI (GenAI). The new Alexa+ operates on Amazon’s powerful large language model know as ‘Bedrock.” It is extremely easy to use via voice control, and it can take action on thousands of types of devices and online services. Amazon created a concept it calls “experts” which are groups of systems, APIs and instruction sets that accomplish a massive variety of actions for customers, on-demand. For example, Alexa+ can tell systems such as Apple Music and Spotify to play your selected music, order meals from Uber Eats and Grubhub, make restaurant reservations on OpenTable and alert you if your exterior webcams see someone approaching your home. Alexa+ can learn and store a user’s individual preferences and tastes. Users can even use a desktop browser or mobile app to share documents, emails and photos with Alexa+ so that it can store personal details and appointments that the user wants it to act upon, refer to and learn from. Alexa+ can be subscribed to for a monthly fee but is available at no cost to Amazon Prime members.

Elsewhere, Apple launched GenAI capabilities for its highly popular iPhones, iPads and Macs, starting in 2024. The firm describes it as a “personal intelligence system.” The tools include language and image understanding capabilities that enable the system to edit text (such as emails and notes), enhance photos and videos and launch online searches with voice prompts.

Top Voice-Activated Technology Platforms and their Unique Advantages:

Alexa: Owned by Amazon. Connects to Amazon AWS Cloud services, making it easy to embed Alexa software in third-party products.

Siri: Owned by Apple. Siri, already familiar to hundreds of millions of iPhone users worldwide, has evolved into a very sophisticated digital assistant.

Cortana: Owned by Microsoft. Microsoft had deep partnerships and experience with third-party corporate software and technology firms, making this an easy platform for others to embed.

Google Assistant: Owned by Google. Assistant capitalizes on Google’s constantly evolving expertise in search and artificial intelligence.

Source: Plunkett Research, Ltd.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Become a Plunkett Research Online subscriber to gain unlimited access to our massive amount of vital industry data and market research.

✔ 100,000 Industry Statistics
✔ 500 Industries Analyzed for Market Size, Profits and Forecasts
✔ 150,000 Industry Executives Profiled
✔ 25,000 Companies Profiled, Ranked and Analyzed
✔ 1,000 Vital Trends Analyzed, totaling 1,000,000 words

Learn More

How to access Plunkett Research data.

What data challenge can we help you solve today?

Take a Tour

Contact

Testimonials

Digital Assistants Include Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home/Alexa and Similar Software Power Third-Party Developers, Business and Industry Trends Analysis

A Representative List of Organizations that Have Used our Research and Products:

How to access Plunkett Research data.

What data challenge can we help you solve today?

Take a Tour

Contact

Testimonials