Google Chirp To Take On Amazon Echo

It appears that a big player in the eCommerce space is looking to talk back to Alexa with a voice-activated assistant of its own.

Recode reports that a team at Google is developing a hardware device similar to the Amazon Echo.

Sources have told the outlet that Google’s device — which will integrate Google’s own search and voice assistant technology — will physically resemble the tech giant’s OnHub wireless router and, though it remains to be seen if the moniker will be maintained once the product goes to market, is known internally at Google as “Chirp.”

If Google has any sort of head start with regards to its rumored Echo competitor, attests Recode, it’s that the company’s own voice assistant technology within its Android phones is longstanding (in the digital era, at least) and highly regarded in the tech industry.

Should “OK, Google” — the current user command to initiate voice interaction with Android phones — become to the company’s maybe-named Chirp device what “Alexa” is to the Amazon Echo remains to be seen, for now.

While the sources that spoke to Recode told the outlet it is unlikely that the new Google product in question will be launched at Google’s I/O developer conference next week — although the outlet hints at the possibility that “Chirp” could at least be revealed at that time — they did say that is expected to roll out at some point this year.