China’s Alibaba (NYSE:$BABA) is one of the largest e-commerce websites in the world. So it didn’t come as a total shock to hear that the company will be launching an Amazon Echo-like speaker called the Genie X1. This announcement came nearly three years after Amazon (NASDAQ:$AMZN) first released the Amazon Echo smart speaker back in November of 2014.
It’s important to note that the Genie X1 speaker will only be available in China, and it will go to the first 1,000 people who order it during a one-month trial starting August 8, 2017.
Alibaba’s ‘Genie’ speaker will be significantly cheaper than Amazon’s Echo and other rival devices. The smart speaker will be priced at $73, while the Echo is set at $179.99 and the Google Home is $129. However, Amazon does offer a cheaper speaker — the Amazon Dot ($49.99) — that is enabled by a voice assistant and can carry out basic functions, such as making calls and playing music.
In regards to the smart speaker market, Alibaba is not the only company trying to catch up to Amazon. In fact, Tencent (HKG:$0700), a dominating figure in China’s software world, has created a voice assistant called Xiaowei, which is very similar to Amazon’s Alexa speaker. According to President Martin Lau, Tencent could potentially be releasing a countertop assistant in a few months. At the same time, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, Samsung is in the midst of developing a smart speaker powered by its new Bixby assistant.
On Wednesday, Alibaba shares were trading up 1.31% to $142.82. The stock is up more than 60% so far this year.
Featured Image: twitter
