Amazon Leads Virtual Home Assistant Marketplace While Google Trails Behind

September 18, 2017

If you’re the kind of person that talks to a robot in your home, a new report has a good idea of who you might be asking to order pizza for you.

The new Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) report that focuses on “home automation devices” shows that Amazon is dominating the virtual home assistant market holding a 76 per cent market share with its Echo offerings. This is compared to the Google Home device, which comes in at 24 per cent. The report surveyed 300 owners of virtual home assistants.

The report also details the growth of such devices, with 15 million Amazon Echo sold across the U.S. thus far. This is up from 10.7 million in March and 5.1 million in November 2016. That’s close to a 200 per cent increase in less than a year.

Amazon’s first jumped into the virtual home assistant market two years ago with Echo, showcasing the Alexa software. There are several models to choose from now, but the most popular is the Echo Dot, a $50 product that accounts for over 50 per cent of Amazon’s smart assistants currently out there.

Google’s competition released in November 2016, so it is natural Amazon has such a large market share. Google Home sells for $130.

Apple is trying to enter the space as well. The HomePod, which launches this December, is an uptick in price compared to Home and Echo, sliding in at $350.

In terms of features that smart assistant owners use the most, music is king. Users will listen to tunes through their Echo or Home the most, followed by asking questions, setting alarms and controlling automated home technology.

As of now, there are only two competitors in the space (with a third coming soon), but creating a virtual assistant is incredibly hard work. You need a massive wealth of knowledge and the enterprise background to support it. Only the biggest companies in the world have the possibility of creating devices like these.

More and more apps and platforms are beginning to share compatibility with these virtual home assistants, from Dominos to Spotify. If sales trends and widespread app adoption continue, it’s safe to tell Alexa that she isn’t going anywhere.