Google Home, Amazon Echo could get voice calling services

For Google, integrating voice calling services in its Home speaker could be a lot easier as it already has its Voice service in the US.

Google and Amazon are looking to integrate voice calling services in its home speakers, according to a report in Wall Street Journal. “Amazon’s Echo or the Google Home could be used to make or receive calls, people familiar with the matter said, a functionality that would give them further control over consumers’ digital lives at home,” the report reads. Google and Amazon, with the home, are attempting to revive landlines in homes, but with a twist.

For Google and Amazon to introduce calling features for home speakers, there are many challenges. For starters, the tech giants will have to figure out a way to give users an alternative to taking calls on loudspeaker. For those who’d want to take these calls further in private, a seamless transition to smartphones is required. Amazon could introduce new numbers for Echo or a way to sync users’ existing phone number with the device. It is looking to bring in features such as call forwarding to facilitate voice calling on Echo.

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For Google, integrating voice calling services in its Home speaker could be a lot easier as compared to Amazon as it already has its Voice service in the US. Amazon, on the other hand, will have to start afresh to create such a network.

“The feature could be rolled out to Amazon Echo and Google Home speakers as soon as this year, but both companies have concerns about privacy, emergency services, and regulatory hurdles,” notes The Verge.

Amazon Alexa has practically made a way into a majority of user’s drawing rooms in the US. WSJ’s report says over 11 million of these devices have been sold. The home speaker, over the years, has become a part of people’s daily lives as it can perform daily tasks such a as playing music, looking for recipes and or set alarms and timers. Google Home, on the other hand, is comparatively new and steadily making progress with the number of tasks it can perform.