Project Voice 2020 brought us this year’s model of an event that, just one year ago, was called “The Alexa Conference”. The name change cleared the way for two other major Voice Assistant platform providers (which could’ve been three, except Cortana has vanished from the commercial world) to step up their game. Google and Samsung had the highest profile for their respective ecosystems of #VoiceFirst content and service developers. Yet they took decidedly different approaches.

For Google, the event presented the opportunity to step up to its manifest destiny. In addition to conducting multiple clinics and sessions and delivering a compelling keynote, the search giant sponsored the “Project Voice Awards” and gala. As part of the affair, Danny Bernstein, managing director of partner relations for Google Assistant, took the stage to announce that all attendees were to receive a free Google Home Hub and, just because no other company had stepped up to arrange an after party, Google had booked the Tennessee Room in the adjacent Marriott Hotel, including the promise of an open bar.

The Chattanooga Convention Center is about as far as it gets from the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, where the Oscars ceremony is held. Yet, Google’s level of largesse signaled a new phase in the evolution of #VoiceFirst along the path toward a full-on communications and entertainment medium. At least that is the sub-text as the world-at-large takes note of its reach (now measured in hundreds of millions of households) and the frequency of use (with “frequent users” yet to be defined). The trappings now include award ceremonies, after parties and the emergence of “Big Three” networks.

Winners and Losers

Even though it is abiding by the classic “rule-of-three”, the new medium is best characterized as “fragmented”. Amazon, Google and Samsung, as well as Microsoft, each have their own technical approach, development tools, integration points and business protocols. When they join forces, to promote a standard way to control household lights and appliances for instance, it is the exception rather than the rule. The fact that there were 39 categories for Project Voice awards (one of which had 19 finalists), might say it all. When you have to give separate honors to “best developer” and “best skill/action/capsule” for three separate branded platforms, as well as for independents, you have a problem.

In fact, one long-time developer, who spoke to me under condition of anonymity, observed that both Google and Amazon are turning away from “indie” developers because they have yet to launch a “killer” (read “profitable”) action or skill.

Enter Bixby: The New Kid on the Block

As the “new kid on the block” (as Siri’s co-founder and VP of R&D Adam Cheyer put it) Samsung has not yet bought into the star system approach. Its message at Project Voice was a promise to step up support efforts for growing its developer base, including heightened attention to the “discovery problem” that plagues indie developers. We’ll believe it when we see Bixby’s parent company Samsung step-up spending on the marketing of Bixby’s capabilities as a personal assistant, advisor or agent.

Meanwhile, the handwriting is on the wall with household names like the BBC and NPR offering familiar services like “Question of the Day” garnering the most praise. The classic parameters of “frequency and reach” are making themselves at home with the emerging medium. In spite of Samsung’s good intentions and proposed efforts to promote both discovery and promotion of emerging skills, actions or capsules, it is clear that “indies” are going to suffer in the near-term. The star system that characterizes mature media is destined to prevail as the major platforms start to focus on accommodating the will of name brands and big enterprise. It is surprising, and reassuring, that the #VoiceFirst community has yet to discover the mainstays of the old audiotext or pay-per-call business: psychic hotlines. Yet the affinity to popular radio feeds and the “Question of the Day” reflects an old-timey feel for a novel technology: the proverbial “old wine in new bottles.”

Where to From Here?

Project Voice showcased the high levels of energy, creativity and humor that characterizes a mature medium. It bodes well for the #VoiceFirst ecosystem. The new medium’s star system will enable a handful of popular, “monetizable” services to add the word “profitable” to their list of descriptions. The future has never looked better. Hundreds of millions of devices are in homes, cars and pockets around the world, enabling perhaps billions to avail themselves of #VoiceFirst services.

If advertisers and large enterprises hold sway, Voice Commerce (or “Conversational Commerce”) is about to take shape. Banks, healthcare, retailers, quick-serve restaurants and consumer packaged goods makers are just starting to show how the reach of #VoiceFirst devices supports their marketing, sales and customer support efforts. That’s what we’ll look for at the next Project Voice, as well as the Voice Summit 2020 in Washington. The future is in the hands, cars, living-rooms and bedrooms of prospective users.

Categories: Conversational Intelligence, Intelligent Assistants, Articles