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As well as taking commands such as "play music
by Bruno Mars" or "add gelato to my shopping list", Amazon said
the device accesses the internet to answer questions such as
"when is Thanksgiving?" and "what is the weather forecast?"
Amazon said the speaker, which runs on Amazon Web Services,
continually learns a user's speech patterns and preferences.
Users start the speaker up saying the wake up word, "Alexa".
They can then feed Amazon Echo commands or questions or, if they
want, wirelessly stream music web services such as Spotify,
iTunes and Pandora via their mobiles.
Amazon Echo is priced at $199, or $99 for members for the online
retail giant's Amazon Prime loyalty scheme. It is available on
an invitation-only basis in coming weeks.
Amazon has had an unusually busy year, developing a mobile
phone, video productions and grocery deliveries.
Last month, the company forecast sales for the crucial holiday
quarter that disappointed Wall Street and investors who are
eager to see Amazon curtail its ambitions and start delivering
sustainable profits.
(Reporting by Soham Chatterjee in Bangalore; Editing by Rodney
Joyce)
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