Introducing Announcements on Alexa Built-in Devices
Today, Alexa Voice Service (AVS) is making Announcements available for certified Alexa built-in products to implement and new ones that pass the provided self-tests and certification. Alexa Announcements enables customers to make and receive one-way announcements to and from compatible Alexa built-in devices in their household. Similar to a one-way intercom, Alexa Announcements is great for quick, broad communications you want to share with your whole family. This allows customers to announce on their device from the kitchen that “dinner is ready,” or that “it’s time to wake up,” or from their Fire TV Cube that “the movie is starting.” This audio message will be “announced” playing back simultaneously through the other Alexa built-in devices in the home. Customers can also use the Alexa app when they are away from home to make an Announcement.
Amazon will continuously improve the Announcement feature to create better customer experiences and to ensure consistency across all Alexa built-in devices.
If you already have a product in market, you can find documentation to enable Announcements on your device here. If you are developing a new product, Announcements will be possible to add as part of your AVS implementation and AVS certification will cover testing of this feature.
On 26-June-2019, Scott Isabelle, Principal Solutions Engineer of Alexa Voice Service (AVS), provided details of Alexa Announcements for device makers. Watch the recording here.
AVS makes it easy to develop products with Alexa built-in and bring voice-forward experiences to your customers. Through AVS, you can add a new, natural user interface to your products and offer your customers access to a growing number of Alexa features, smart home integrations, and skills. Get started.