Amazon Gives Alexa a New Voice to Grow User Base

In a bid to capture the voice commerce users of tomorrow, Amazon has rolled out a suite of new features in its Alexa ecosystem, including devices that look and talk like owls and dragons.

The latest move comes as Amazon looks to connect with young users and follows other recent revisions that have seen Alexa marketed to seniors as well as whole-house voice assistance stationed in multiple locations.

When the Echo Dot Kids Owl and Dragon designs — and any other Echo device powered by Amazon Kids+ in the United States — hear those commands, they will transform Alexa’s voice to sound like those characters and will share songs, jokes and fun facts.

This kid-friendly feature is one of several updates recently added to Alexa and Amazon devices, Amazon reported Tuesday (Nov. 8) in an update to a blog post.

The company has also added new countries in the international expansion of its Amazon Kids app and its Amazon Kids+ content service.

Amazon Kids — kid-friendly content and parental controls — is now available in France and Germany. These countries join the recently added Australia, New Zealand, Spain and Italy. Amazon Kids+ — which offers subscribers ad-free eBooks, games, Alexa skills and other kid-oriented content — is now available in Canada and Germany.

As PYMNTS reported in May 2021, Amazon devices and content pitched directly at children show that it’s never too early to start building brand loyalty.

While it might not be something that will much move connected commerce today, it could make a difference down the line as a generation of children who grew up talking to Alexa might want to carry on that conversation as adults.

The latest update to Alexa and Amazon devices also includes two new features for adults. With one, users can ask Alexa to follow up on Reminders, and Alexa will proactively do so until the Reminder is marked as complete.

With another update, Amazon’s QLED Series TVs can be used to display images from art galleries around the world, and users can ask Alexa for more information about each artwork.

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