UPDATED 21:31 EST / MAY 11 2016

NEWS

Report: Google’s Alexa competitor is called Chirp and may be teased at Google I/O next week

Google, Inc.’s planned competitor to Amazon.com, Inc.’s Alexa smart home assistant may be teased at next week’s Google I/O conference, according to a report Wednesday.

Recode claims the new device has an internal project name of “Chirp” and will resemble Google’s OnHub wireless router.

News that Google was working on an Alexa competitor first emerged in March, when it was also claimed that Google was working on the device without its Alphabet, Inc. sibling company Nest, who specialize in smart home devices.

Although there are no details so far as to what the Chirp will do, it would be a fair guess to presume that it would offer features similar to Amazon’s Echo, such as the ability to play music, read books, create calendar events, read a summary of news headlines, and more.

Unlike the Amazon Echo, Google’s Chirp will have one strong advantage: it will be relying on results and services from Google itself to both deliver answers and to undertake tasks, an immediate heads up if indeed Google is looking to take on Echo head-to-head.

OK Google

The key to assessing the likelihood that the report is true is to consider how hard it would be for Google to design such a device, and the answer is given the technology Google already uses in Android phones for voice commands it would be fairly simple to deliver a home based device.

Since first debuting in Android 4.1 Jellybean in mid-2012, Google Now has evolved rapidly and can now not only deliver search results, but also undertake various tasks on command, such as scheduling an appointment.

Amazon’s Echo does have a head start though in terms of tie-in services, but given Google’s might it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that they could rapidly catch up in terms of diversity of supported services either at launch, or shortly thereafter.

There’s still no official timeframe for when the service will launch but if it is shown in any capacity Google I/O, before the end of the year is still the best guess.

Image credit: Google OnHub.

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