Exactly one month ago, the HomePod smart speaker was shown at Apple's developer conference, which is supposed to compete with devices such as Amazon Echo or Google Home. The main engine of the HomePod is Siri, a virtual assistant directly from Apple. For many years, Samsung relied on the assistant from Google, but with the premiere of the "es-eight" in March, the virtual assistant Bixby was shown to the world directly from the South Koreans. Samsung, of course, does not want to stay only with smartphones, so it is also developing its own speaker, where Bixby will play a major role.
Samsung's smart speaker has been in development for a year now, and for now it's internally branded as the "Vega". The only thing for now The Wall Street Journal found out, is the fact that the new virtual assistant Bixby will play a big role in "Vega". She can currently only respond to commands in Korean, but she should learn other languages by the end of the year. Unfortunately, the other parameters of the speakers remain shrouded in mystery.
It's more than clear that Samsung thought about the smart speaker long before sending it out into the world Apple. However, the work slows down the development of Bixby, which learns new languages and commands really slowly. Samsung recently had to postpone the promised release of support for English and other languages is likely to be delayed as well.
Exclusive first look are the new @Samsung GearPod: #HomePod #OneMoreThing pic.twitter.com/8d3V6eWBaY
— not Jony Ive (@JonyIveParody) June 6, 2017
The market for smart speakers is constantly growing. The main mover is currently Amazon with its Echo, followed by Google with Home. By the end of the year, he will join Apple with HomePod. When Samsung will pull out its weapon is for now in the stars.
