Jordan O'BrienThe Amazon Echo and Google Home could replace the traditional landline, with the two companies reportedly planning to add calling functionality to their AI-powered speakers. That’s according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which believes the two companies are racing each other to launch the functionality.
Google will likely have the upper hand when it comes to rolling out voice calling functionality; after all the search engine giant already owns a number of services that can perform that exact function. This includes platforms such as Hangouts, Google Voice and even Duo, the latter of which is scheduled to receive voice calling capabilities later this year.
Amazon’s experience with voice calling is a little lacking in comparison, with the company’s only conferencing venture being the newly launched Amazon Chime. That service is designed for businesses however, meaning it’s unlikely to form the backbone of the Amazon Echo voice calling service.
Despite its relative inexperience, Amazon doesn’t have to use one of its own services. The retail giant has already shown a willingness to open up its platform to third-party developers through the Alexa Skills program, and it could do the same with voice calling. It isn’t hard to envision services like Skype or Vonage working on the Amazon Echo speaker.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon and Google are still looking into the logistics as to how voice calling will work on the respective devices. Both companies are reportedly considering giving the speakers their own phone numbers, enabling them to completely replace the standard landline.
It’s not yet known how the service will translate to voice control either. Could it potentially hang up a call if the user utters the phrase ‘hang up’, even if they didn’t want to end the call? It’s likely that both Amazon and Google will have to work out those issues before launch.
If the two firms do end up launching voice calling, then the Wall Street Journal notes that the service should launch by the end of the year.