Amazon Makes Alexa Available For Equipment Manufacturers

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) recently announced new developer tools that will allow gadget makers to integrate Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant, in their products.

With the newly announced developer tool called “Alexa Mobile Accessory Kit,” developers of Bluetooth compatible wearable products like headphones, smartwatches, fitness trackers, other audio devices, and more, will now be able to build Alexa into their devices. The kit is already being used by several of the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) including Bose, Jabra, iHome, Linkplay, Sugr, Librewireless, Beyerdynamic, Bowers and Wilkins.

Amazon mentioned that Bose’s Alexa powered products are already under development. The company is assisting Amazon to create and refine the new kit, which Amazon will make available for developers around the world this summer. The Mobile Accessory Kit will empower brands like Bose to catch up with the likes of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), who have already integrated their own voice assistants into their Bluetooth headphones.

Brian Maguire, Director of Product Management at Bose, said in a statement, “Accessing Alexa’s music, information, and vast number of skills on our headphones will become easier than ever, and we’re looking forward to bringing our collaboration to life.”

Notably, Shares of Amazon have gained 54.3% in the past 12 months, underperforming its industry’s 60.2% surge.

Amazon also partnered with Vuzix Corp., which is set to present its Alexa powered augmented-reality smartglasses at CES 2018 next week, according to Bloomberg. The smartglass has an inbuilt camera, connects to smartphones via Bluetooth and can take voice commands.

Amazon also announced its Alexa 7-Mic Far-Field Development Kit called the Amazon Alexa Premium Voice Development Kit for commercial device makers. It will support various types of devices and incorporates Amazon’s proprietary software technology for “Alexa” wake word recognition. The company said Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) has already created some Alexa using kitchen appliances and will make Alexa powered microwaves available soon.

Our Take

This move shows how Amazon intends to reap the benefits from Alexa. The company is looking beyond home products and wants to make Alexa become an integral part of people’s daily lives. Amazon wants to get ahead of its competitors to capture the most of the market by offering equipment manufacturers access to Alexa. None of its competitors have tried to make their voice assistants commercial at this scale and the strategy looks promising to us.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Amazon has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ:AVGO) , Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) and NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) are some of the better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Long-term earnings growth for Broadcom, Micron and NVIDIA is currently projected to be 13.75%, 10% and 10.3%, respectively.

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