IKEA’s New Smart Lighting Will Support Alexa, Google Assistant, And Siri

What Happened
IKEA is embracing conversational interfaces as it announced on Tuesday that it is adding voice command support to its TRÅDFRI line of affordable connected lighting, which includes several different LED bulbs with prices starting at $11.99 in the US. Coming this summer, the updated line will be compatible with Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s HomeKit (which uses Siri) for voice control. Besides, users will also be able to control the lights via the respective apps.

What Brands Need To Do
By integrating with the three most popular smart home systems, this new line will undoubtedly be versatile enough to appeal to a wide range of smart home shoppers. That, plus its competitive pricing, should help push more consumers to try out connect lighting and familiarize themselves with the voice-controlled smart home setup.

According to BI Intelligence estimates, connected-home device shipments hit 1.8 billion units shipped in 2019. Most of them will support some type of voice control, most likely through integration with digital assistants, as IKEA is doing here, as opposed to building their own voice command solutions. As the availability of smart home devices rapidly grows, they provide a valuable emerging platform for brands to connect with consumers at home via voice, and brands should take a proactive approach and start experimenting with voice experiences.

How We Can Help
The Lab has extensive experience in building Alexa Skills and chatbots to reach consumers on conversational interfaces. So much so that we’ve built a dedicated conversational practice called Dialogue. The “Miller Time” Alexa Skill we developed with Drizly for Miller Lite is a good example of how Dialogue can help brands build a conversational customer experience, supercharged by our stack of technology partners with best-in-class solutions and an insights engine that extracts business intelligence from conversational data.

If you’d like to learn more about how to effectively reach consumers on conversational interfaces, or to leverage the Lab’s expertise to take on related client opportunities within the IPG Mediabrands, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Barrett ([email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

 


Source: The Verge

You Can Now Ask Siri To Lock Your Door (With New August Smart Locks)

What Happened
Soon you won’t need to bother getting up from your coach after binge-watching Netflix to lock your front door – you can just ask Siri to do it for you. August, maker of the first iPhone-controlled locks, recently announced a second-gen smart lock that is Apple HomeKit enabled through a new Broadcom chip, allowing iOS users to use Siri to lock and unlock the door remotely. Moreover, the San Francisco-based company also unveiled a new doorbell equipped with a video camera.

What Brands Need To Do
This new Siri-enabled smart lock is one of the new  examples of integrating voice command into connected home devices. Starting with Amazon’s smart speaker Echo launched last year, to Apple’s updated Apple TV with support for Siri, voice-activated command is quickly being integrated into everyday consumer products. This changes the way brands typically gets their messages delivered via visuals. Therefore, brands should consider developing a communication strategy for the audio-only platforms and explore building voice-powered experiences to reach consumers at home in the near future.

 


Source: Engadget

New Roku Focuses On Content Discovery And Curation

Read original story on: Re/Code

Earlier this week, Roku updated its lineup to introduce new features that primarily focus on improving its content search and discovery. Users of the Roku 3 can enjoy the complimentary enhanced voice control remote, while users of older models can use the Roku mobile apps to activate voice commands. Moreover, Roku optimized its search results, while also adding a new “My Feed” feature that lets you follow upcoming movies to see when they become available. As it continues to improve its user experience, Roku looks to hold on to its title of most popular OTT set-top box despite increasingly fierce competition.