“Smart speakers not only entertain” – Kommersant FM – Kommersant

Kommersant FM columnist Alexander Levy tells what functions the devices take on.

Smart speakers are the most dynamic segment among all smart devices. In five years, the number of households with at least one such gadget will cross the mark of a third of a billion units, which is almost three times higher than the current figures, Statista analysts calculated. In Russia, the growth in sales of “smart” speakers over the past six months has exceeded 70%. The result was a record mark of 780 thousand pieces. This is only according to the information of one player – the M.Video-Eldorado group.

If we narrow it down to specific vendors, then, for example, the Salyutdevaysy company in early August reported on a million sold units of equipment for the entire time of their existence. It is important to note here that in addition to the speakers, other vendor devices were taken into account: set-top boxes for TVs, TVs themselves, smart displays, media centers. But all this technique is united by Salyut virtual assistants.

But it is the “smart” assistants and their capabilities that form the demand for the most popular category of smart electronics. For example, now “Capsules Mini” by VK can be combined into a stereo pair. In this mode, the audio stream is distributed to two sound sources as to the right and left channels. The engineers also endowed the Marusya voice assistant with a new family mode that protects children from adult content.

The Salyutdevaysy company mentioned earlier, for example, agreed with the Ministry of Digital Transformation on integration with Gosuslugi. And Salyut assistants can tell adults how, for example, to get child benefits. Alice regularly updates its capabilities. Now the “smart” assistant from Yandex has learned to distinguish family members by voice. So far, these are five different users, including the owner, to whose account the device is linked. For each of them, Alice is ready to save favorite tracks, form individual preferences and give access to smart home control.

By the way, this is another important sales driver for smart speakers. They not only entertain, but also take on important functions of household management – they become a hub for other “smart” elements, from automatic gates and lighting to heating, water supply and security systems.