Smart Speakers Go Beyond Waiting to Be Asked
May 10 2021 - 6:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Ann-Marie Alcántara
Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Amazon.com Inc. are experimenting
with features for their smart-home devices that more proactively
assist users instead of waiting to be called on each time.
Google's newest Nest Hub device can automatically deploy radar
to track users' sleep patterns every night, once they set up the
feature. The device uses microphones and sound, light and
temperature sensors to monitor coughing, snoring and other factors
that can affect how well a person sleeps.
The Amazon Echo Show 10 automatically moves its display to face
the user, even if it is performing a task that doesn't need user
input, like showing a recipe on the screen.
Proactive or not, features in smart-home devices need to address
a real user need, not stack the product with unnecessary and
potentially confusing tools, said Ashton Udall, senior product
manager at Google. The company developed sensor technology to
monitor sleep, for example, because its research showed that
consumers frequently forget to use or charge the wearables often
employed for sleep tracking, or find the devices uncomfortable, he
said.
Amazon and Google hope the experiences will help them compete
for users and more fully integrate their devices into people's
lives.
Smart-speaker adoption continued to increase during the
pandemic, with about 94 million people in the U.S. estimated to own
at least one smart speaker in 2021, up from 76 million in 2020,
according to data from Edison Research. Twenty-four percent of
Americans own Amazon's Echo devices and 13% own Google devices,
with people who have smart speakers having 2.3 speakers per home on
average, according to the data.
But while adoption has increased, device owners tend to try
fewer new activities over time, researchers said. Proactive user
experiences give tech companies another chance to present how
useful smart devices can be, said Tom Webster, senior vice
president at Edison Research.
Seamless features that create less friction for common tasks is
one way to encourage people to keep trying new activities with
these devices, including common tasks such as video calls, he
said.
"And if the device kind of invisibly makes that easier, that's
really the key to getting people to adopt new behaviors," Mr.
Webster said.
But consumers still think about voice assistants as
command-driven tools, voice technology experts say.
"There's this delicate balance between how to communicate
proactively that I can do these things for you, but also being at
your beck and call and unobtrusive," said Eric Turkington, vice
president of strategic partnerships at RAIN Technology Inc., a
voice and conversational artificial-intelligence firm.
Google announced updates coming to its smart-home devices with
screens last year that proactively address some common tasks. The
displays show different user interfaces that change throughout the
day, showing the weather at one point, for example, and users'
upcoming meetings at another time. In the evening, the device
suggests ways for users to wind down, such as listening to relaxing
sounds.
Nest Hub devices also automatically enlarge the information on
their screens when people are farther away and surface more
granular details as people get closer.
Proactive user experiences in smart-home technology are still
nascent, said Toni Reid, vice president of the Alexa experience at
Amazon.
"It can be absolutely magical -- but you also can get it wrong,"
Ms. Reid said. "And so you need to make sure that what you're
building actually does create delight."
"The more that a truly ambient experience that's happening and
it is proactive and it is helping the customer, it actually reduces
the burden or cognitive load on a customer to have to think about
all the things that Alexa might be capable of doing," Ms. Reid
added.
Product features designed to anticipate someone's needs, like
car headlights that automatically turn on at night, have been
around for many years. But technologies like smart-home devices
have a chance to help users with mundane, everyday tasks, said Ben
Williams, global chief experience officer at R/GA, a digital agency
owned by Interpublic Group of Cos.
"We've grown tired of repeat functions," Mr. Williams said.
Write to Ann-Marie Alcántara at ann-marie.alcantara@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 10, 2021 06:14 ET (10:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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