Comcast’s NBCUniversal today unveiled ShoppableTV, which lets viewers purchase products while watching TV shows by pointing their smartphone camera at a screen during “on-air shoppable moments.” Read more…
Category: Technology
Nearly 80% of viewers said they want more episodes that show how influencers create videos. Read more….
Facebook is developing a voice-powered virtual assistant similar to Apple’s Siri, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Read more…
Further Reading
Tech companies also are experimenting with monetization strategies that extend beyond the initial purchase of a smart speaker. Amazon likely sells its smart speakers at a loss, according to product teardowns by ABI Research, which estimated the second-generation Echo Dot that sells for $29 has about $31 in parts. But those devices give the e-commerce giant a foothold in the connected-home market and help to support Amazon Prime, the subscription service that costs $119 a year for streaming video, a limited package of streaming music and no-fee two-day shipping on most products. People who have an Echo in their home spend about $1,700 a year on Amazon, or 66% more than the average Amazon customer, per Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.
Worldwide Device Shipments by Device Type, 2018-2021 (Millions of Units)
| Device Type | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| Traditional PCs (Desk-Based and Notebook) | 195,317 | 189,472 | 182,823 | 175,058 |
| Ultramobiles (Premium) | 64,471 | 68,869 | 74,432 | 79,871 |
| Total PC Market | 259,787 | 258,341 | 257,255 | 254,929 |
| Ultramobiles (Basic and Utility) | 149,561 | 147,963 | 145,811 | 143,707 |
| Computing Device Market | 409,348 | 406,304 | 403,066 | 398,636 |
| Mobile Phones | 1,811,922 | 1,802,394 | 1,824,628 | 1,798,356 |
| Total Device Market | 2,221,270 | 2,208,697 | 2,227,694 | 2,196,992 |
Pandora plans to test voice-powered ads that will let marketers try to engage listeners in conversational commerce. Read more…
One of the most compelling parts of Apple’s publishing platform is its Apple News Format, which gives publishers greater flexibility in how they present their content and advertising. Read more….
Amazon said the number of Alexa “skills,” the voice-powered apps created for Amazon’s virtual assistant, topped 80,000 worldwide in early 2019.
The number of Alexa skills in the United States more than doubled to 56,750 in January 2019 from 25,784 a year earlier, according to Voicebot.ai. Alexa skill growth in the U.K. rose 233% to 29,910, while Germany’s skill count rose 152% to 7,869.
Number of Alexa Skills by Country, January 2019
| US | 56750 |
| UK | 29910 |
| Canada | 22873 |
| Australia | 22398 |
| Germany | 7869 |
| Japan | 2364 |
| France | 981 |
Google Assistant has “actions” as the apps that expand its capabilities beyond search.
Number of Google Assistant Actions in United States
| January 2019 | 4253 |
| January 2018 | 1719 |
| October 2017 | 724 |
| August | 468 |
| July | 378 |
| June | 304 |
| May | 232 |
| April | 165 |
Google Assistant Apps by Category – January 2019
| Category | % |
| Education and reference | 15.07 |
| Games and fun | 11.07 |
| Kids and family | 9.29 |
| News and magazines | 7.69 |
| Home Control | 6.91 |
| Travel and transportation | 5.60 |
| Shopping | 5.58 |
| Business and finance | 5.41 |
| Arts and lifestyle | 4.73 |
| Health and fitness | 4.25 |
| Social and communication | 4.03 |
| Music and audio | 3.83 |
| Food and drink | 3.50 |
| Productivity | 3.41 |
| Sports | 2.92 |
| Music, photos and TV | 2.76 |
| Local | 2.62 |
| Weather | 1.32 |
Google rolled out smart segmentation features in Google AdMob that use machine learning to categorize players based on their likelihood of making in-app purchases. Read more…
Apple acquired machine-learning startup Laserlike in a likely effort to boost its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, including for Siri, the iPhone maker’s virtual assistant that faces stronger competition from Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Read more…
Apple’s magazine subscription service is starting to take shape. The tech giant is expected to announce the service at a March 25 press event. Analysts also expect the iPhone maker to unveil a TV streaming service that will compete more directly with Netflix and Hulu. Read more…