Alibaba Enters the Smart Speaker and Virtual Assistant Market with Tmall Genie – The Amazon Alexa and OK Google Competitor
Alibaba has followed the likes of Amazon and Google into the smart speaker market with the new Tmall Genie.
The Tmall Genie has the AliGenie voice assistant inside, which is similar to Amazon’s Alexa. Feature-wise, Alibaba is offering much of the same functionality as the Echo, including smart home control, weather, news, music, and a wide range of other skills.
The Tmall Genie is launching in a limited beta for ¥499 (roughly $73.39). Users can sign up here. Selected customers will be notified by the middle of July to complete their purchases, and the first devices are set to ship on July 17th.