This is a significant figure, especially compared with the best estimates for Google Home, which put its sales at less than a million since its launch in October 2016. The Morgan Stanley estimate would put an Echo in more than 8% of US households. About 700,000 were estimated to have been sold in the UK and Germany, the only countries outside the US where it is available. Though Amazon has not – and does not – release sales figures for any individual item, investment bank Morgan Stanley estimates that 11m Echos had been sold by the end of November 2016 other estimates suggest a further 7m have been sold since. And simply by saying “Alexa, add sugar to the shopping list”, users can keep up to date on house supplies and even purchase them directly.Īmazon is in the lead, having launched the Echo in November 2014, two years before Google Home came out. In theory, if a device can be linked to it, the Echo can control or monitor it, and keep you informed. Both are internet-connected, home-based devices which can be command to do things: give the weather forecast play music read out news headlines update shopping lists and control “smart” devices in the home such as light bulbs or power points. One is Amazon’s Echo, with its voice-operated “personal assistant”, Alexa the other is Google Home, which responds to the phrase “OK Google”. That battle is being fought by two carafe-sized cylinders from the respective companies. They’re wondering which company will win the battle to control your home.

But analysts are already looking beyond the simple question of how many cardboard boxes Amazon filled and how many searches Google answered. Both companies – or in Google’s case, its parent group, Alphabet – are therefore expected to announce booming revenues in their fourth-quarter results over the next fortnight, with Alphabet going first on Thursday and Amazon the following week. Amazon and Google always thrive in the fourth quarter as people get out their wallets for Christmas.

Google voice desktop client 2017