Amazon is continuing its slow-but-steady global rollout of its Echo smart speakers and Alexa voice assistant. Having launched the devices in India in October, now they’re debuting in a major music market: Japan.
The Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Plus speakers are available to pre-order today, and will ship to Japanese customers next week. Meanwhile, Alexa is being opened up to Japanese developers to create local ‘skills’ for the devices.
“Tens of millions of customers already love Alexa and we’re thrilled to introduce her to our customers in Japan today, with an all-new experience designed from the ground up for Japanese customers, including a new Japanese voice, local knowledge, and over 250 skills from Japanese developers,” said Amazon Alexa SVP Tom Taylor in a statement.
Amazon launched its Prime Music service in Japan in November 2015, so the service can expect a boost there from its tight integration with the Echo devices.
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“Amazon launched its Prime Music service in Japan in November 2015, so the service can expect a boost there from its tight integration with the Echo devices.”
This does not seem to be true. I live in Japan and can’t use the echo/Alexa for playing music. I have a Prime account and the message I got was “Alexa on the Amazon music app is currently only supported in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Australia and New Zealand.”