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September 3, 2019
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As the first of its kind, the new Technicolor, – Known as Vantiva -, AUDIO WIZARD microphone & speaker accessory seamlessly adds the far-field voice assistant feature.

AUDIO WIZARD enables operators to deliver the most engaging voice user experience to the end-user by being more personalized and hands-free, further enhancing assistant services with more voice search and content discovery possibilities as well as enriched Smart Home functionality.

As Android TV becomes mainstream, Network Service Providers need to look for other ways to differentiate themselves and bring value added services to their consumers. One of the next generation growth segments for operators is voice-enabled technology and services – providing NSPs with the ability to seize new revenue generating opportunities.

Indeed, the market is expected to grow at an exponential rate within the next couple of years. The overall smart speaker market is expected to grow from USD 1.57 billion in 2017 to USD 11.79 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 34.44% from 2018 to 20231. The research institute Gartner predicts that 75% of US households will have smart speakers by 2020.

At the beginning of the voice assistant market, the user experience was not fully satisfactory; but the enhancements made over the years to recognize voice, simplify searches, and call for handsfree actions made voice services and devices more appealing to end users.

A growing number of operators are now interested in voice-enabled services and many have announced they are launching a voice remote control, leveraging Google Assistant in the Android TV world. However, this solution fails to grasp the full potential of voice-enabled services and devices. Now is the right time for operators to leverage the digital assistant services offered by Google, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, and deliver premium experiences to the end-user.

Key Benefits of the Solution

Technicolor’s AUDIO WIZARD is the first accessory of its kind that enables far-field voice assistance on the set-top box.

This solution presents several benefits for the operator as well as for the end-user:

  1. With the AUDIO WIZARD, end-users can make the most of digital assistant services on set-top boxes without the need – or the burden – of looking for the remote control.
  2. The far-field voice function is combined with the set-top box in the operator’s environment, enabling NSPs to offer a harmonized, branded user experience across end-user devices.
  3. Whereas retail smart speakers are fully voice autonomous, the far-field voice set-top box has access to the main TV screen of the home, and as such, benefits from a central position to acquire, via voice, the search results – such as data or video content – discovered and displayed on the TV.
  4. Providing the AUDIO WIZARD as an accessory, or as an additional module to the set-top box, has the huge advantage of allowing flexibility in the introduction of a new service. In fact, the operator can build several offers with the same set-top box – with or without far-field voice – but can also add this service later in the set-top box lifecycle  through a “pay-as-you-go” pricing model.

For more information about the Technicolor AUDIO WIZARD get in touch with your local sales representative.

(1) Source: market research report “Smart Speaker Market by IVA (Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, Cortana), Component (Hardware (Speaker Driver, Connectivity IC, Processor, Audio IC, Memory, Power IC, Microphone,) and Software), Application, and Geography – Global Forecast to 2023”, published by MarketsandMarkets™ – June 2018 
See also article: https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/smart-speaker-market-worth-1179-billion-usd-by-2023-669548013.html

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