Voice Assistants 'Biggest Opportunity of the Decade,' Says Futuresource Report

Smart speakers account for one in three home audio shipments in the U.S., said a Futuresource report referencing a “new CE land grab” that could “unsettle the entire CE industry.” Worldwide in Q1, 3.4 million smart speakers were sold at a retail value of more than $440 million, said the report. Interest in voice-enabled speakers beyond the U.S. and U.K. has been limited, and the U.S. is projected to generate more than half of global smart speaker revenue by 2021, it said. Smart speakers have been the natural home for voice-based digital assistants because of features, functionality and price, and they’ve been an effective vehicle to introduce the concept of voice control to consumers, said analyst Rasika D'Souza. Voice-based personal assistants are poised to become “the new, primary interface for all consumer electronics devices across the board,” said analyst Simon Bryant. Calling voice control “the biggest opportunity of the decade,” Bryant said the company that “gets it right will set the agenda for the next generation of CE devices."