Amazon and Google are both selling smart speakers that are powered by AI virtual personal assistants that can do anything from hailing an Uber, searching the internet, creating reminders to streaming music. According to a new report, both companies are working to bring one major feature to the Amazon Echo and Google Home. It’s claimed that both smart speakers may soon receive voice call support.
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Amazon and Google are both thinking about enabling Echo and Home to make voice calls on command. The report adds that this feature might be rolled out to both devices as soon as this year. However, there might be some issues related to privacy aside from concerns related to regulatory problems and emergency services that the companies will have to tackle before they can make something like this happen.
This feature will also be limited in its usefulness because users will only be able to make calls over speakerphone which means that if they want to have a private conversation, they’ll have to use their smartphone. It should be easier for Google, at least in theory, to get this service running on Home given that it has been running a phone service on Google Voice for seven years and on Project Fi for a couple of years now.
Amazon is said to be considering multiple options such as syncing the device to the user’s existing phone number to separate numbers for Echo devices. Another issue they will need to figure out is the switchover from the phone to speakerphone when entering or leaving the room. Amazon and Google have not yet commented on this report.
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