This year, Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) is offering four months of unlimited music for 99 cents as part of its annual Amazon Prime Day, a deal which competes heavily with Apple’s (NYSE:P) music streaming service.
An event that’s similar to Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day features deals on a variety of items. Amazon uses this event to promote its tech devices, such as the Echo Dot. These devices feature Alexa, a hands-free, voice-activated assistant that can play music, control home devices, make phone calls, and more.
This year, Amazon is trying to make its products the number one voice-activated smart device used in the U.S. The Echo Dot will be at its lowest price ever at $34.99 as Amazon tries to beat out Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Home devices.
Apple recently debuted its own voice-activated smart device, called the HomePod speaker, which uses the Siri feature made popular in the company’s iPhones and iPads. The HomePod speaker is distinctly focused on music, giving users the ability to play music from Apple’s streaming service, Apple Music.
Apple Music currently offers monthly subscriptions at $9.99 for individuals and $14.99 for families, allowing up to six people to use the same account.
Amazon’s 99 cents for four months music deal provides an even greater incentive for Amazon Prime users to choose Amazon’s devices over Apple’s. Alexa can also already access Pandora (NYSE:P) or Spotify if users prefer those services. Alexa does not support Apple Music or any Mac OS X devices.
Sales from Tuesday’s event will indicate whether Alexa is facing competition from Siri. Last year on Prime Day, Amazon sold three times as many devices compared to the year before. If Amazon can continue that trend, Apple may be too late.
Amazon Prime Day will begin today at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
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Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report
Pandora Media, Inc. (P): Free Stock Analysis Report
Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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