India is one of the fastest growing markets for Alexa devices, said Parag Gupta, Director and Country Manager, Amazon Devices India. Speaking to businessline on the sixth anniversary of launching Alexa devices in India, Gupta claimed that Amazon has delivered Alexa-enabled devices (Echo or a Fire TV) to 99 per cent of pin codes in India.
“Last year, for example, we shipped an Echo or a Fire TV to 99 per cent of the pin codes in India. , Our users are spanning across the country. It’s not just metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru but also smaller cities in areas like Spiti and Bastar and I think that’s another factor in how adoption has grown,” he said..
Gupta did not divulge India-specific numbers, including the number of devices that have been sold here till now. However, on the localisation front, he said 100 per cent of Amazon’s Fire Sticks are made in India, while Echos are still imported. The plan, according to Gupta, is to localise production of Echo devices eventually to improve affordability of the devices.
Generative AI will also play a significant role in product development of Alexa-enabled devices in the future.
Generative AI
According to Dilip RS, Director and Country Manager of Alexa India, Amazon is incorporating generative AI capabilities in Alexa. “I think we are at the inflection point of technology in a way because Alexa has been working on generative AI models, large language models.”
Dilip added that many AI-enabled new features will come live in India. This will empower Alexa with new capabilities, especially making its conversation more human to human, and further enable real world applications of the device.
In the past five-six years, Gupta claimed that affordability of Alexa has improved significantly, “And then I think (there has been an improvement) from an affordability perspective, about five years ago, a smart bulb could have cost you about ₹2,000 . And today on Amazon with the Echo bundle, you could get for as little as ₹200. So, there is definitely that shift in affordability that’s going on.”
Published on February 9, 2024
