After years of rivalry, Google and Amazon have finally agreed to let their voice assistants play nicely together on a new line of JBL speakers.
The Authentics 200, 300, and 500 speakers will be the first devices on the market to offer both Google Assistant and Alexa, and users will be able to switch between the two assistants at will.
“Voice assistants have become part of our everyday lives,” said Marissa Chacko, director of product management of Google Assistant. “Both Google and Amazon wanted to make it easy for users to access either of these voice services simultaneously.”
The integration of Google Assistant and Alexa on the JBL speakers is made possible by Amazon’s Multi-Agent Experience Toolkit, which allows multiple voice assistants to work together on the same device. This means that users can ask either assistant to do anything that the other assistant can do, without having to worry about which assistant is currently active.
For example, a user could ask Alexa to set a timer, and then ask Google Assistant to stop it. Or, they could ask Google Assistant to play music, and then ask Alexa to add a song to their Spotify playlist.
The integration of Google Assistant and Alexa on the JBL speakers could help to break down the barriers between the two platforms and make it easier for consumers to choose the assistant that best suits their needs.
The sources for this piece include an article in TechCrunch.