Study Shows ‘Amazon,’ ‘Google’ And ‘Apple’ Voice UI To Take Over

Science fiction movies, video games, comic books, and novels share many things in common, including voice-operated machines that respond to verbal commands. “Amazon” and “Google” have already touched on the basic premise of this technology through their “Echo” device and “OK Google” offerings, and “Apple” plans to follow suit through the next evolution of their “Siri” smart assistant. To see what the likely impact of this technology will have, an essay published on Techpinions showcased a study which states that the voice-first user interface (UI) revolution is here.

The study was done in two parts, with the first focusing on “Amazon Echo” in partnership with Experian. Using an early-adopter panel as opposed to mainstream consumer panel, the team needed to get a statistically significant number in order to get reliable results. 

The second part focused on “OK Google” and “Siri” using the mainstream panel. The goal was to learn how users utilized these features and how they viewed the voice-operated technology. 

From the 1,300 participants in the early-adopters panel, 13.86 percent have the “Amazon Echo.” 83.72 percent of the participants also owned iPhones, which did not surprise the researchers since they stated that users of the “Apple” product tended to be early adopters as opposed to “Android” users. 

It would seem that most users of the “Amazon” device place it in either the living room or the kitchen, with the latter having a clear edge over the former. The study also found that the most common uses for the “Echo” are to play a song, turn on the lights, and set a timer; in that order. 

Of these uses, the author of the study places the most significance on the interaction of the device with the lights since the other two have been commonplace since the introduction of “Siri.” It indicates that voice-first user interface is starting to have a major impact on the concept of Internet of Things.