By will-buy
Vodafone debuted a brand new voice assistant and smart speaker this week in Spain, both named 'Atika. The smart speaker integrates both new Spanish-speaking AI and Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. The brand new device, which Vodafone says may be the first from the Spanish firm, arrives merely a month after French telecom Orange started winding down sales of its standalone smart speaker in favor of pushing its Djingo voice assistant into more smart home devices.
Ask 'Atika
The 'Atika smart speaker looks like many other smart speakers, with fabric covers and an elevated stand. The angles look almost sharp when compared with Google’s latest design or Amazon and Apple’s completely spherical new smart speakers. Vodafone built the 'Atika smart speaker in a partnership with Sagemcom, incorporating its voice assistant and Alexa both. The speaker also includes specialized audio features from tech developer Devialet, such as adaptive volume level, which makes real-time changes to the volume depending on what’s being played. Devialet also contributed the Space feature, made to make sound in the speaker immersive, whether alone or perhaps in tandem along with other speakers.
Anyone can purchase the 'Atika speaker, however the combination of voice assistant and the smart speaker is aimed at boosting Vodafone’s smart TV services in particular. The smart speaker enables voice controls for television when the owner also has a Vodafone set-top. Users will be able to order the voice assistant to locate, record, and control playback on their TV, along with the many other navigational features common to smart TVs. For those worried about privacy, voice control can be shut off as well. The 'Atika’s price reflects Vodafone’s interest in that angle. The smart speaker costs EUR399, but only EUR216 for Vodafone customers, who can also sign up for a EUR6 monthly installment plan. As an early Black Friday sale, Vodafone customers can get the smart speaker even cheaper at EUR144 'till the end of November. Both types of customers get three months free of Amazon Music Unlimited, a benefit of the Alexa integration.
Euro Talk
Vodafone’s move into smart speaker hardware puts it in front of any potential rivals vacation, but an increasing appetite for smart speakers and smart home devices doesn’t mean the gambit is without risk. It just took about a year for Orange to determine the Djingo Speaker had failed. Produced by Orange and Deutsche Telekom like a French option to Amazon and Google, the smart speaker was affected by delays, launching six months after its expected date and costing double the amount as originally planned. Like Vodafone, Orange partnered with Amazon and integrated Alexa as a voice assistant option for the speaker. Vodafone’s smart speaker imitates Orange in its main unique feature as well, with unique voice controls for smart TVs. That’s why Orange decided to expand it's good home services with Djingo, but not inside a stand-alone form. Vodafone’s smart speaker may outperform its French counterpart, however it will need to entice some Spanish customers away from Echo and Nest smart speakers lest 'Atika become purely digital too.
