{"id":737,"date":"2024-01-28T06:03:30","date_gmt":"2024-01-28T06:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.orangewebsite.com\/articles\/?p=737"},"modified":"2025-12-29T02:30:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T02:30:04","slug":"virtual-assistants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orangewebsite.com\/articles\/virtual-assistants\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rise in Virtual Assistants"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Growth of Digital & Virtual Assistants<\/h1>\n

They are referred to by various names including digital assistants, virtual assistants, voice assistants, and most recently smart speakers. Odds are you or someone you know has or soon will have one in their home. You may already use one on your phone. It is another in a series of digital advances designed to either make your life more convenient, find out more about you or potentially both.<\/p>\n

Rather than having to undergo pesky typing into a digital device, users can simply make their request by speaking out loud into or at least near enough to the device so it can \u201chear\u201d. They are in smartphones, televisions, computers, and in our automobiles. While this article will begin with a general look at the technology involved, we will ultimately focus on in-home voice speakers and their amazing growth in popularity in recent years.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\u00a0The History of Speech Recognition<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Many don't realize how long speech recognition technology has been around. Bell Laboratories introduced it with a simple \" Audrey \" device in 1952. Audrey could recognize numbers spoken by one voice. In 1962, IBM introduced the \"Shoebox\" that could identify 16 English words. Slowly, speech recognition improved through the 1960s, when it included more vowels and consonants in various languages.<\/p>\n

In the early to mid-1970s, the United States Defense Department got involved, and the technology made great strides. \"Harpy\" resulted in a system that could mimic the vocabulary of the average three-year-old. Eventually, Bell Labs introduced a system that could recognize multiple voices.<\/p>\n

Subsequent advances in voice recognition were accomplished through predictive voice recognition, where words were recognized based on speech patterns. In 1987, a doll named Julie could mimic speech and was marketed as \"...the doll that understands you.\" If that sounds creepy, consider what we place in our homes today.<\/p>\n

In the 1990s, voice recognition became more available for consumers as computer speeds advanced. It was often cumbersome, however, and software frequently had to be trained to the user's voice. Systems were frustrating due to misunderstandings between the users and the software. Early phone editions were particularly aggravating as callers would have to repeat themselves incessantly to get the software to \"understand\" what they wanted.<\/p>\n

With the growing popularity of the Internet, Google helped the technology take a huge step forward with its Google Voice Search App for the iPhone in the 2000s.<\/p>\n

Another milestone in the development of voice assistants was in 2011 when IBM's \"Watson\" appeared on Television's \"Jeopardy\" program and Apple introduced Siri<\/span>. Microsoft responded with\u00a0Cortana<\/span> in 2013; in late 2014, Amazon introduced Alexa and The Echo. The Assistant from Google debuted in 2016, as did the Echo Dot. Later that year, Google Home was launched.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

The Growth of Voice Speakers in the Home<\/strong><\/h2>\n

So, here we are now, over 65 years after Audrey recognized spoken numbers and 55 years after Shoebox was demonstrated at the World's Fair. Everybody, from doll makers to the US Department of Defense, has shown interest through that time. It has been employed in our phones and our cars. However, depending on your perspective, it is reaching a new level of convenience and voluntary intrusion.<\/p>\n

Estimates are there are about 30 million Google Home and Amazon Echo voice speakers in American homes. Penetration is expected to reach 55% within the next four years. A growing number of companies like Lenovo, LG, Harmon Kardon, and even toy maker Mattel have set out to grab a share of this rapidly growing market. What's behind this growth, how is it impacting us, and what is next?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Convenience Trumps Privacy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Voice speakers, or as some are now calling AI voice speakers, are another example that people are willing to trade personal information and privacy for convenience and will pay for the privilege. Convenience is king; technology-based companies like Amazon and Google fully understand that. It also affords them something even more valuable than just the sales of these devices. These tech companies' real value is their consumer data and insights.<\/p>\n

It is not unlike the sales of cheap printers in the 1990s and early 2000s. Affordable printer prices and convenience lured in consumers. They may not have been aware of the expensive replacement cartridges that awaited them. Companies promoting voice speakers may be making these devices more and more affordable to gain access and insight into consumer behaviour and information.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

What This Means for Marketers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

So, if all of this history and growth in voice recognition and, ultimately, AI voice speakers are interesting, what are the practical aspects for those with websites who want to sell more of their products and services? It starts with understanding that many of these activities are search-related. \"Alexa, find me a local rock and roll radio station.\", \"Siri<\/span>, who has the best pizza near us?\" or \"Google, what is tomorrow's weather going to be?\" are basic searches initiated by voice rather than typing.<\/p>\n

There are already over one billion searches conducted by voice every month. By 2020, just two years from now, it is predicted about a third of all searches will be performed without a screen. More and more people are joining the voice search option and feeling more comfortable with it, including those using voice speakers. This may help you craft verbally friendly SEO efforts along with written keyword strategies.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Why You Should Choose Orange Website<\/strong><\/h2>\n

OrangeWebsite.com is an\u00a0Icelandic-based<\/a>\u00a0web hosting solutions provider committed to the growth of our customers. We are in an internet-friendly country that respects the\u00a0privacy of internet users<\/a>. We provide hosting plans that can be paid through private secure and private payment options like Bitcoin and cash through the mail. Learn more by visiting OranageWebsite.com and get started today.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","category-online-privacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orangewebsite.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orangewebsite.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orangewebsite.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orangewebsite.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orangewebsite.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.orangewebsite.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1673,"href":"https:\/\/www.orangewebsite.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions\/1673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orangewebsite.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orangewebsite.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orangewebsite.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orangewebsite.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}