We had been very excited about the Google I/O 2016 as it the 10 th anniversary of Google's annual event. Like every year even this year we have got plenty of new things to talk about from this event. Google team showcased the all now apps for Android and iOS - Allo and Duo. The team talked about the latest Google Assistant, Android Wear 2.0, Android N and more. But what truly impressed us is the device, which is definitely going to make our homes smarter and give e-commerce giant- Amazon a tough time in the upcoming months.
We are talking about Google Home, which is a Wi-Fi speaker with a built-in voice assistant announced at its Google IO keynote today. It is the first real competitor to Amazon Echo and uses the latest Google Assistant to answer your queries, help you in everyday tasks and will also control smart devices all over your home.
Google Home comes with a built-in speaker and utilises the Chromecast software, which gives the portable device the ability of multi-room audio support. The Wi-Fi enabled speaker can stream music directly from cloud and its base can be customised to match your home decor.
With Google Home, the search engine giant is targeting the reign of Amazon Echo, which has been around for the past year and is priced at Rs 19,000 in the Indian market. Echo also has music-streaming abilities, and is always on to obey your command, but what Google showcased during the presentation of the Google Home, makes it go one step ahead of the Echo in everyday usage.
But unfortunately, Google Home is not going to be available anytime sooner as Google CEO Sundar Pichai says that the first Google Home units won't be available until later this year. Based on this, we expect Google Home to touch the Indian soil in the fourth quarter of 2016.
As we mentioned above, Amazon sells Echo at Rs 19,000 in the Indian market and Google has to come up with a pricing that overshadows the Amazon Echo. If Google manages to price the Google Home under Rs 15,000, we believe it would start a new trend of Wi-Fi enabled smart speakers in the country that can do a lot more than playing music wirelessly.
What do you think should be the India price for something like this? Do let us know via the comments below.
