The smart speaker market has been pioneered by Amazons Echo range especially, but also Google with its Home products. There aren’t many players in this game currently, but a future participant will be Samsung with its Bixby virtual assistant. First announced in 2017 and introduced into the Galaxy S8 and newer models, Bixby hasn’t had the easiest ride. Most have had little desire to use it at all which drove Samsung to the point of offering awards and perks for anyone who learnt how to use Bixby. This involves gift cards and wallpaper, which could be seen as a little desperate, although it did work to a degree so Samsung has closed it.
Samsung has remained undeterred despite its shaky start and hard competition. The next natural step is, of course, the implementation of Bixby into a smart speaker, one of the hottest markets today. The firm is expected to position its smart home speaker at the higher end of the market and sell itself for superior audio quality. This is the right move on their part as they have some expertise in this area and the likes of Amazons Echo don’t produce the best sound quality. Competing in the low end is not viable as the Echo Dot sells for $50 and any product that would match that would squeeze profitability.