7.53 lakh smart speakers shipped in India in 2018: IDC report

About 7.53 lakh units of smart speakers were shipped in India in 2018 with Amazon accounting for 59 per cent market share, according to research firm IDC. IDC defines smart speakers as speakers embedded with a smart assistant directly in the speaker itself. As per the IDC report, Google - which launched its smart speakers (Google Home) in India in second quarter of 2018 - ranked second in the tally with 39 per cent share of the units shipped in 2018.

Smart speakers were first introduced to the Indian market in the fourth quarter of 2017 when Amazon launched its Echo range of devices in the country, IDC said adding that since then, more than half a dozen companies have launched their devices in this category.

"Though the smart speaker is a relatively young product in India, the integration of voice assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant in smart devices is gaining immense popularity in the country," IDC India Associate Research Manager (Client Devices) Jaipal Singh said.

The main driver of the early adoption so far is the novelty factor around this technology, he added. "However, it is certainly driving the shift in consumer behaviour and accelerating the adoption of voice interfaces in India," Singh noted.

The report said while consumer segment contributed to the majority of smart speaker sales in the country, purchase of smart speakers by enterprises witnessed a surge during the festival time, primarily for gifting purposes.

"With the increasing acceptance of smart devices among consumers in India, Google and Amazon are identifying new ways of building an ecosystem for smart speakers to provide an enhanced consumer experience and building trust for secured use of these devices at home," Singh said.

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This is catching the attention of traditional speaker companies as they are also planning to implement voice assistants in their devices in the next few months, he added.