Google Assistant Gets More India Localization
Several announcements were made this week during Google for India 2017 related to Google Assistant. We reported earlier about the forthcoming feature phone, JioPhone, that will only cost about US$23 and include Google Assistant capabilities. During the same event, Google’s Gummi Hafsteinsson added more context around how Assistant will be localized for India according to Gadgets 360.
Google is enhancing the experience further by adding localised results on Google Assistant. Hafsteinsson showed an instance of the new effort by searching restaurants located in Chandni Chowk through the Assistant app. The app not just brought out relevant results but also highlighted timings of different restaurants.
Google Assistant Supporting More Indian Media
The article also pointed out that more India media content is becoming accessible through Google Assistant. BookMyShow offers trivia from Bollywood. NDTV, Gadgets 360, Myntra and others are also providing content access through Google Assistant apps. Much of the media coverage is focused on voice assistants in the U.S., but this has rapidly become a global market. With China likely to be dominated by Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba, users in India are a big prize for leading tech companies.
Amazon Echo began shipping in India on a limited basis in October. The Google Home smart speaker is not available yet in India, but Google is counting on building affinity for Google Assistant through smartphone usage. If you would like to watch the recorded livestream from the event, it is on YouTube here.
