Conversational Interface is the way to go in 2018!! It is expected to emerge as a clear winner pushing and leaving everyone with a very less market share.
Amazon is marching ahead with 70% market share in the smart home speaker domain. Alexa has evolved into much more than just a part of Echo. Amazon is rolling out developer integration points to embed Alexa in almost any invention. Having constituted a very ‘social’ decision — one that encourages you to get an Echo for your house and countenance too (and hey, they are on sale right before Christmas!), they are expanding the reach of Alexa by targeting the less ‘tech enthusiasts’ and further expanding the market.
Google is going strong and steady, their technology is a match if not better. They are also adding tools and integrations for developers just as quickly. While we have seen that Amazon rules the home smart speaker market, Google owns the smartphone voice assistant market with almost 50% share. Key point here being that the use of voice assistants on smartphones is not very successful as compared to home devices. Somehow the idea of talking to a voice assistant in public is not the most comfortable thing for it invades the personal space while with home devices being “at home” has got the upper hand.
Microsoft is making sure that Cortana is in most windows devices which makes up for a large share of the personal computer user base. They have strategically played by forming a partnership with Amazon so that Cortana and Alexa can communicate. This will be helpful for businesses where Windows machines are used. Being able to communicate with Alexa from your computer will be enough for users to try it out and get comfortable enough with it. It may or may not dominate but it will surely survive.
