На этой неделе в официальном пресс-релизе Samsung сообщил, что добавил в свои смарт-телевизоры голосовой помощник Google Assistant к уже имеющимся фирменному Bixby и Alexa от компании Amazon. Обновление программного обеспечения для моделей линеек Crystal UHD, The Frame, The Serif, The Sero, The Terrace на всех телевизорах QLED 4K и 8К 2020 года позволяет запускать Google Assistant без дополнительных установок и оборудования. Используя голосовой помощник Google Assistant, пользователи могут управлять устройствами умного дома, узнавать прогноз погоды, запускать музыкальные сервисы или просматривать карты, календарь и многое другое. Благодаря появлению Google Assistant в Samsung Smart TV у владельцев таких аппаратов появилась возможность удобного добавления концентраторов умного дома в любую комнату, которые могут быть использованы для управления освещением, будильниками, термостатами или другими приборами. На текущий момент добавление Google Assistant в Smart TV Samsung доступно в США, Великобритании, Франции, Германии, Италии и будет запущено ещё в 12 странах к концу текущего года.
Такой подход, по мнению приглашённого эксперта информационного блога Samsung World Николая Изнова, с одной стороны, расширяет возможности телевизоров этой марки, а с другой - ведёт к деградации собственного голосового сервиса Bixby и усилению позиций конкурентов.
"На первый взгляд, "букет" разнообразных голосовых помощников (в России на смарт-ТВ Samsung устанавливают Алису от Яндекса) играет только в "плюс", взаимно дополняя друг друга, но одновременно Samsung упускает инициативу, позволяя конкурентам вторгаться на своё поле и использовать доминирующее положение южнокорейского электронного гиганта на мировом рынке с целью получения разнообразной информации о пользовательских предпочтениях, что приводит к ещё большему отрыву в скорости обучения искусственного интеллекта Google и Amazon от собственного Bixby. В долгосрочной перспективе это может негативно сказаться на экосистеме "умного дома", где Samsung имел все шансы стать крупнейшим игроком. Лично мне это напоминает девиз "Кто нам мешает, тот нам и поможет", провозглашённый героем известной комедии Леонида Гайдая "Кавказская пленница". Чем закончилось воплощение в жизнь этого девиза, нам хорошо известно.", - отметил эксперт.
Samsung Strengthens Its Smart TV Voice Capabilities
Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Bixby allow quick access to entertainment, live answers on screen and control over smart devices with voice commands
Samsung Electronics announced that Google Assistant will join the suite of voice assistants currently available on 2020 Samsung Smart TVs, providing viewers with enhanced control and discovery abilities. Available alongside Amazon Alexa and Bixby, Google Assistant is now fully integrated into Samsung Smart TVs and requires no additional downloads, hardware, or installation, and is interchangeable, based on the household’s preference. The suite of leading voice assistants is now available on all 2020 4K and 8K QLED TVs, Crystal UHD TVs, The Frame, The Serif, The Sero and The Terrace, and is compatible with viewers’ existing voice assistant ecosystems.
Make Control and Discovery Effortless
Thanks to a wider range of voice assistant options, Samsung Smart TV users now have faster access to their favorite entertainment, real-time answers on screen, and the ability to seamlessly control their smart home devices with a voice assistant of their choosing. By activating voice commands, users can easily browse channels, adjust the volume, control playback, open apps and much more.
“The use of voice assistants on our Smart TVs has grown exponentially since Bixby’s launch in 2018,” said Seline Han, Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “With Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa now supported, we are inviting our consumers to ask even more of their Smart TVs.”
Entertainment lovers can now use their preferred voice assistant to discover new content instantly with an effortless search by genre, director or actor. In addition to finding new TV programs and films to watch, viewers can ask Alexa, Bixby or Google Assistant to provide the weather forecast, find out the latest game scores or play their favorite tunes. With Google Assistant, viewers will also have access to the Google services they know and love to help streamline their days, including Google Search, Photos, Maps, Calendar and more.
“By bringing Google Assistant to Samsung Smart TVs, we want to connect your living room with the rest of the smart home and help you better manage your day, across your favorite Google services,” said Jack Krawczyk Director, Product Management for Google Assistant. “With our collaboration with Samsung, we are able to offer help from Google assistant to more people around the world right from the big screen.”
Users can add another hub to any room in the house with Samsung Smart TVs which can now be used to control the lights, set the thermostat, set an alarm or perform any other tasks under the command of a household’s existing voice assistant.
“Amazon Alexa on Samsung Smart TVs is designed to delight customers with an enhanced entertainment experience. Beyond navigating video and music content with ease, customers can also connect their Alexa built-in TVs with over 100,000 smart home devices, to make everyday tasks more convenient,” said Aaron Rubenson, Vice President of Alexa Voice Service and Alexa Skills. “Our collaboration with Samsung continues to bring customers the convenience of voice control on Smart TVs while giving customers access to their voice service of choice.”
Samsung Smart TVs Speak Your Language
Since the integration of Amazon Alexa across Samsung’s Smart TVs earlier this year, voice assistant support has been made available to Samsung Smart TV users in 14 countries globally.
Google Assistant is now available in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and will be rolling out to 12 countries by the end of this year.1
1 Available in the UK, France, Germany, Italy by late October and in Spain, Brazil, India and South Korea by late November.
SPECIAL OPINION: This approach, according to Nikolai Iznov, an invited expert of the Samsung World information blog, on the one hand, expands the capabilities of the TVs of this brand, and on the other, leads to the degradation of its own voice service Bixby and the strengthening of competitors' positions.
"At first glance, the "bunch" of various voice assistants (in Russia, Alice from Yandex is installed on Samsung smart TVs) plays only a plus, mutually complementing each other, but at the same time Samsung is losing the initiative, allowing competitors to invade own field and use the dominant the position of the South Korean electronic giant in the global market in order to obtain a variety of information about user preferences, which leads to an even greater gap in the learning rate of artificial intelligence Google and Amazon from the branded Bixby. In the long term, this could negatively affect the smart home ecosystem, where Samsung had every chance of becoming the largest player." - the expert noted.
