Amazon is happy to announce that Alexa, the brain behind Amazon Echo, is coming to Canada, along with three Alexa-enabled devices: Amazon Echo, Echo Plus, and Echo Dot.

This opens up new opportunities for developers in Canada and worldwide. Starting today, you can build for voice with Alexa and reach customers in Canada with the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), our collection of self-service APIs, tools, documentation, and code samples. Along with the Echo Family of Devices, third-party brands ecobee, Ultimate Ears, and FABRIQ have all announced that they are bringing Alexa-enabled products to Canada.

Hardware manufacturers can also start developing their own Alexa-enabled products for Canadian customers with the Alexa Voice Service (AVS).

More than 10,000 skills will be available to customers in Canada this year including Philips Hue, Samsung SmartThings, TED Talks, Uber and more. Popular Canadian brands are already creating voice experiences using the Alexa Skills Kit, including Air Canada, TD Bank, TELUS, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Sportsnet, The Weather Network, and ecobee. Developers around the world can extend their experiences to more customers in this new marketplace.

How to Build an Alexa Skill

It’s easy to start building for voice with Alexa. Explore our simple tutorials or watch our on-demand webinars to learn how to build a skill quickly. If you want to build a multi-language Alexa skill, read our technical documentation to learn how to create a skill in all language models English (US), English (India), English (UK), English (CA), German and Japanese. If you’re already an Alexa developer, you can enhance your existing skill by extending support for the new language model for Canada.

No device? No problem. Use the Service Simulator or Echosim.io to test skill invocations and simulate a user using your skills.

How to Integrate Alexa into Your Product

The Alexa Voice Service (AVS) enables developers to integrate Alexa directly into their products, bringing the convenience of voice control to any connected device. Device makers can start building with AVS today, and can build an Alexa-enabled prototype for Raspberry Pi in an hour with the AVS Quick Start Guide. Learn how to build new products or update your existing products to reach new customers in Canada here.

Forums

Need help as you get started? Connect with the Alexa community on our developer forums.

We are excited to bring Alexa to Canada and enable developers to reach and delight new customers. We can't wait to see what you build.