Amazon preps rival to Apple’s AirPods as its first Alexa wearable

“Amazon.com Inc. is trying a new way to take its Alexa digital assistant mobile: wireless earbuds that mirror Apple Inc.’s popular AirPods,” Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg. “The Seattle-based e-commerce giant is readying earbuds with built-in Alexa access for as early as the second half of this year, according to people with knowledge of the plans. Like the AirPods, the Amazon earbuds are designed to sit inside users’ ears without clips around the ear.”
“The headphones will let people use their voice to order goods, access music, weather and other information on the go. The Amazon digital assistant will be summoned by saying “Alexa.” There will be physical gesture controls, such as tapping to pick up and end calls and switch between songs, the people said,” Gurman reports. “The earbuds will come in a storage case that doubles as a charger.”
New AirPods build on the magical experience customers love delivering 50 percent more talk time, hands-free “Hey Siri” and the option of a new Wireless Charging Case.
 
“Earbuds are a fast-growing category of wearables: 12.5 million pairs were sold in the fourth quarter, according to Counterpoint Research. Apple’s AirPods had 60 percent of this market,” Gurman reports. “After early jokes when AirPods launched in 2016, the product has become a huge hit for Apple, helping to augment slower iPhone sales. The company is working on a third-generation, higher-end pair with noise-cancellation and water resistance, according to people familiar with the plans.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple has a commanding lead here and, if they, after years of bumbling about, finally put the pedal down and rev up Siri, as we believe they will at WWDC 2019 in June, they should be able to keep and even build upon it with AirPods 2 and future-gen wearables.
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