Smart Speakers: Alexa Start My Day

Amazon Start My Day

Amazon is adding more features to Alexa including the ability to listen to radio and music via Alexa Routines.

For those not familiar with Alexa Routines, these are basically customized automated features available to Echo users. It can be as simple as starting your day with the weather and some headlines, or it can be ‘full-blown smart home’ turning on lights and coffee makers.

The idea is just by saying something like “Alexa Start My Day” a single voice command triggers a sequence of selected and customizable content with weather, traffic, a news update, your own music playlist or the radio station or podcast of your choice.

All of the major platforms including TuneIn, Pandora, Spotify, and iHeart are available.

This harkens back to the “quaint” days of the clock radio when radio stations could count on listeners to habitually tune in at the same time daily. Now, listeners have an endless palette of choice which requires a rethink of what is most valuable in an environment which favors instant gratification. In a recent post, I suggested that stations need to think beyond the linear stream and offer on-demand content which instantly solves a problem, informs or entertains.

Voice Coupons Come to Smart Speakers

Google and Target teamed up for a coupon experiment earlier this month for $15 at the Google Express online store. It is another directional point as both Google and Amazon try to feel their way through smart speaker capabilities and integration.

Spotify and its own Smart Speaker

Several sources are pointing to a smart speaker announcement from Spotify later this month. But The Verge suggests it could be a music player for the car.

It's moving pretty fast out there in voiceland.