On Thursday, Amazon commemorated its voice-controlled smart assistant Alexa's sixth anniversary in India and the company also announced a staggering 200 per cent increase in Alexa-connected smart home devices in the country over the past three years. During the last three years, alongside the rise in connected devices, the retail giant witnessed doubling in requests on Alexa for controlling compatible smart home appliances such as smart lights, plugs, fans, TVs, security cameras, ACs, water heaters and air purifiers.
Furthermore, the company noted that customers in India are advancing in their smart home endeavours. Over the past year, the use of Amazon Alexa to control smart fans and smart ACs has surged by 37 per cent, marking the highest increase among all smart home appliances.
Amazon also mentioned that among the most popular requests to Alexa, users can conveniently ask in English, Hindi, or Hinglish. These include commands like "Alexa, geyser chala do" (Alexa, turn on the geyser), "Alexa, turn off AC after 15 minutes", or "Alexa, hall ki lights dim kar do" (Alexa, dim the lights in the hall)
"Since we launched Alexa and Echo smart speakers in India, the smart home sector has evolved significantly, and voice technology has played a massive role in this," Parag Gupta, Director and Country Manager, Amazon Devices, India, was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.
"Customers can easily set up a smart home by getting a compatible smart bulb and instantly control with Alexa, or get a smart plug to automate existing appliances. It's clear that more people are seeing how setting up a smart home is not as complex as they had imagined," Gupta added.
Amazon Offers On Anniversary
Meanwhile, in celebration of Alexa's 6th anniversary in India, Amazon.in has unveiled discounts of up to 50 per ceny on Echo devices, Fire TV, and Alexa smart home bundles. Notable offers include 49 per cent off an Echo Dot bundle with a Wipro smart bulb for Rs 3,899, 59 per cent off Echo Pop twins packs with a Wipro bulb for Rs 4,898, and 40 per cent off the popular Fire TV Stick for Rs 2,999.