Amazon is happy to announce that Alexa, the brain behind Amazon Echo and other third-party Alexa-enabled devices, is coming to Ireland. Starting today, Irish customers can purchase Amazon Echo, Echo Plus and Echo Dot from Amazon.co.uk.

This launch opens up new opportunities for Alexa developers based in Ireland and worldwide to reach new customers in the region. You can start building new Alexa skills today with the Alexa Skills Kit, our collection of self-service APIs, tools, documentation, and code samples. Popular Irish brands have already created voice experiences for Alexa, including RTE News, Irish RadioPlayer, and Ryanair. Alexa skills published in Ireland will be available to customers from the Alexa UK Skills Store.

Hardware manufacturers can also start developing Alexa-enabled products for Irish customers with the Alexa Voice Service (AVS).  Smart Home brands such as IKEA, Netatmo, Hive, Lightwave and Energenie have all announced that they are bringing their Alexa-enabled products to Ireland

How to Build Alexa Skills for Ireland

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, including English for US, India, UK, Canada, and Australia as well as German and Japanese.  

No device? No problem. Use echosim.io to test skill invocations and simulate a customer using your skills.

When you start a skill, you’ll be prompted to create an Amazon Developer account. Developers in Ireland will share the same developer portal and tools as the UK. If you’ve built a UK skill before, you can create and configure Irish skills the same way. 

When you publish your skill, you can specify if you want the skill to be available in Ireland. You can choose to make the skill available in all countries and regions where Amazon distributes skills, or you can select specific countries and regions. Your skill will be available to customers in any of the countries and regions selected, provided they choose a language for the device that you support. You can learn more in our documentation about how to decide where to distribute your skill.

How to Integrate Alexa into Your Product

The Alexa Voice Service (AVS) enables hardware manufacturers and 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, including 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 Ireland here.

Build a New Skill, Earn Developer Perks

Publish a new skill this month and get another chance to earn an Alexa developer hoodie. If more than 75 customers use your skill in its first 30 days in the Alexa Skills Store, you can also qualify to receive an Echo Dot to help you make Alexa even smarter. The skill with the most unique users within its first 30 days after publishing will also earn an Echo Plus. Get the promotion details here.