Personal Assistants for Second Language Learning

This assignment provides a comprehensive analysis of personal assistants for second language learning, specifically focusing on Amazon's Alexa. The study examines various articles, research papers, and reports that discuss the effectiveness of voice assistants in promoting language acquisition. It also explores the benefits and limitations of using AI-powered tools like Alexa in educational settings.

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Successful New Product Launch: Amazon Alexa
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Introduction
The objective of this report is to research and examine significant success factors of product
launches in extant literatures. The success or failure of the product launches is dependent on
the proper application of these factors. Thus, the feasibility of a new product in the preferred
market requires an accurate analysis of the relevant and specific success factors (Cooper,
2013).
Product Newness
The link between the performance of a product and its critical launch success factors is
affected by the level of a product’s newness. New products are always characterised by
radical innovations which make consumers to develop perceived risks and the feeling of
incompetency in the product use. Thus, there is the challenge of appreciating the benefits of
the new product by the consumer more so when it is distinct from the existing products in the
market (Kunz, Schmitt, and Meyer, 2011).
Amazon Alexa is in its second generation has had several derivative versions of different
prices as it continues to advance its music, smart-home and technological assistant features
(Tang, 2017). There are over 25,000 Alexa Skills such as information access, playing games,
brainstorming, working out, playing music, monitoring basic tasks, and linking with care
providers and family (Warren, 2016). The product can also be integrated with most of the
improvised technological home appliances. Amazon Alexa occupies 70% of the market share
on the voice-regulated speakers with its competitors like Google having 23.8% share of the
market (Brooke, 2017). The growing success of the Alexa product can be attributed to
various factors such as the ability of Amazon Echo to be used as an alternative to
smartphones, tablets and computers while at home or school (Powers, 2016; Sheppard, 2017).

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Competitive Analysis
Amazon Alexa is a virtual personal assistant speaker which operates in the voice technology
industry. The device uses the Open-System Approach which requires smart home
organizations to write software code and give it to Amazon for evaluation without the need
for any particular chip (Tang, 2017). For instance, LG has successfully integrated the Alexa
embedded technology into its LG smart refrigerator which permits consumers to search for
recipes, add products to the shopping cart or order them online (Barry, 2017).
Mizak et al. (2017) opines that the industry is expected to overgrow due to the comfortability
that the Smart appliances come with and the ability to integrate them with various devices
like phones and Alexa thus making the device useful to all age brackets. For instance, the
pilot analysis report by Mizak et al. (2017) shows that in 2017 the young between 25 and 34
years comprised of 26.3%, the millennials making up 33.5% of assistant, virtual users.
Direct and Indirect competitors
According to López et al. (2017), the primary competitors of Amazon Alexa are the Google
Assistant and Apple’s Siri each with specific needs that they meet. The Google Assistant
responds to voice commands, permits continuous listening, and has a customizable
appearance. It has options for streaming music via Google Play Music, Youtube Music,
Spotify, and Tunelin. It has also partnered with various smart home companies such as Nest,
Honeywell, and Philips Hue among others. It also allows multiple users such that each family
member can train Google Home to recognize their voices and respond to them anytime after
that (López et al., 2017).
López et al. (2017) found out that Google Assistant has also incorporated the Smart Home
controller features such as voice commands on lighting different bulbs in the house. It also

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has an integrated high-excursion speaker that produces quality, clear and powerful bass and it
allows multiple pairing of Google Home Devices to listen to the same song in all the rooms
in the house (Mizak et al., 2017).
Apple’s Siri allows the control of music on HomePod using one's voice, just like the
integration of the HomePod with Apple HomeKit. This procedure permits the software
developers to design applications that integrate with smart home items. Siri enables users to
access over 40 million songs via the HomePod. It also allows music streaming services, and it
supports Bluetooth functionality (Hura, 2017). However, its integration into hardware of
outside companies has not been made open like that of Alexa (López et al., 2017).
Industry Critical Success Factors
The success of Amazon Alexa can be attributed to two main factors namely, location for
retailing and its exceptionality for technology products. Amazon Company trades in various
items on its website and in addition to that, they have improvised Alexa which helps one to
order things online using voice commands. The highest sales of Alexa after its launch were
from the purchases made at Amazon (Heires, 2017). This is an advantage to Amazon in that
one can order items online using Amazon Alexa which is highly compatible with the
hardware of most of the company partners (Larsson et al., 2017).
Sands (2016) notes that Amazon Echo which utilizes Alexa is the most sold product of the
Alexander Home appliances. The technology that has been adopted by Alexa has enabled
easy integration with most of the smart home appliances such as refrigerators, bulbs, Uber,
etc. thus increasing its success rate. Using voice command, Alexa can play music, offer
responses, and provide news update, weather among others. Its technology enables it to
provide over 15,000 skills courtesy of Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) (Jones, & Benton, 2016).

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Amazon Alexa Overview
Amazon Alexa is a portable, virtual assistant that answers voice commands and inquiries. It
uses the speech and language patterns of the owner after learning them and is based on the
cloud (Dizon, 2017). It comes incorporated in various devices namely Echo, Echo Tap, and
Echo dot. It can accomplish multiple tasks through voice commands such as play music;
provide the latest update on sports scores, weather, news, switch on bulbs, order for Uber,
order for online items among others (Chung et al., 2017; Naheem, 2016).
Amazon Alexa Unique Competitive Advantage
The report by Mizak et al. (2017) asserts that the exceptional competitive advantage of
Amazon Alexa has been attributed to its cloud connectivity. The success of Alexa’s allied
devices like the Echo is, without doubt, impressive and the main reason for the Americans
embracing it in their homes. This technology breakthrough has enabled the company to
always improve the device every time. As opposed to previous technologies where the
consumer appliances were inbuilt in the products, and thus further improvements were only
possible in new products. For instance, the cloud capability has enabled software developers
to make it possible to be used in cars, baby monitors, and in cameras (Huang, and Lin, 2017).
The cloud capability, unlike Apple which has restricted Siri to specific companies, has
enabled outside companies and developers to access Alexa and integrate it into their own
devices thus improving its success rates (Hoy, 2018).
Analysis of the Marketing Strategy of Amazon Alexa
The marketing strategy of Amazon Alexa has seen the devices expand everywhere. The price
of the device is relatively higher compared to that of its competitors. However, Amazon
Alexa allied device, Echo, is still the most sold device because of its natural compatibility

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with several home appliances. Additionally, Alexa has been promoted using the open
approach and its cloud connectivity, where, several outside companies have been invited to
integrate Alexa into their products (Haase et al., n.d) as opposed to Apple which has
restricted its Siri product. Thus the more the smart home appliances purchased, the more
Alexa is sold out. Also, Amazon has used the location of retailing as a marketing strategy.
For instance, Alexa is used mostly to order items online, and yet Amazon sells items online
thus convincing one to use Alexa for making orders from Amazon. Amazon Alexa targets all
age groups, where the young can use it for entertainment while the seniors can use it for
functionality purposes like lighting bulbs in different rooms (Baria, and Bhatt, 2017).
Criteria for Success
The measures of success of Amazon Alexa can be attributed to market share and customer
satisfaction. Amazon is one of the leading electronic commerce companies and with the
introduction of Alexa, its customers were already existing and thus quickly shifted to the
purchase of Alexa and appliances integrated with it. The uniqueness of the Alexa technology
has also lead to its success. The software is easily compatible with other smart home
hardware, and the fact that Amazon has allowed free integration of Alexa technology with
most of the manufacturers of the smart home appliances has increased the presence of a
variety of smart home appliances in the market from which consumers can select thus
increasing customer satisfaction (Purington et al., 2017).
Summary of Key Success Criteria
The critical success criteria for Amazon Alexa are its Open system approach and its cloud
connectivity (Haase et al., n.d; Mizak et al., 2017). The success of Alexa as a voice-
controlled speaker can be attributed its cloud connectivity. This technology enables the
software developers to improve or add new ideas to the previous version of Alexa product.

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Thus, making it easy to advance Alexa products. This also allows developers of other partner
hardware companies to access it and incorporate it to their home appliances like refrigerators,
cars, etc. (Barry, 2017) thus, the more people want a variety of smart home appliances with
enabled voice technology, Alexa remains to be on the lead.

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References
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