Bixby honestly isn't that great, but Samsung loves it all the same. And with Google offering several Google Assistant speakers, Apple pushing their own HomePod, and even Microsoft taking misguided stabs at the market with a Cortana speaker, of course Samsung has to try their hand at things.
We'd heard rumblings of a Bixby speaker before, but Samsung has seemingly confirmed that they're still planning on launching a Bixby speaker by the end of 2018. That's a broad timeframe since we're not even three months into the year, but this is the first actual comment Samsung has made about the speaker.
One selling point Samsung has over the competitors is that it makes its own smart gadgets and appliances, like televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines, plus Samsung owns SmartThings. Google, Amazon, and Apple (not you, Microsoft) all have pretty deep integration with third-party accessories, but excluding the one-off things like Google owning Nest, none of them really make their own connected devices. They just make the hubs.
Will that be the edge Samsung needs to knife into a market that's almost totally dominated by Amazon and Google? Realistically, probably not. I bet it'll be expensive like the HomePod and Bixby is still significantly less useful than Google Assistant or Alexa. I'm excited to watch Samsung try, though.
Be sure to keep up with the rest of our MWC 2018 coverage.
source: SamMobile
