Amazon is set to launch its Alexa-enabled smart speaker Echo and its smaller sibling Echo Dot in India during the Diwali festival on October 18, industry sources said on Wednesday. The Indian price tag for both artificial intelligence-based speakers remains unknown at this time, though the report claims it is possible that Amazon Echo could go on sale for between Rs. 11,000 to Rs. 12,000, which translates to an approximate range of $170 to $185, a price point that’s similar to the one in the United States where the device is available for $179. Meanwhile, the Amazon Echo Dot is likely to be sold in India for between Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000, or $77 to $93, which marks a considerable increase from its U.S. retail price of $50, according to the report.
Rumors about the upcoming availability of Amazon’s smart speaker lineup in India first surfaced this June, with industry sources claiming both the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot would have appealing price points, though the latest report isn’t perfectly in line with the earlier one. Previous rumors also stated that while the Amazon Echo would initially only come with support for the English language, the retail giant plans on adding support for more local languages in India such as Hindi and Tamil at some point in the future. It now seems that those rumors were accurate, with the newly unveiled information largely reiterating them, though it’s still unclear how soon after launch will Amazon update its smart speaker series with support for more languages.
While Amazon has yet to confirm the supposed launch date and price points of its Internet of Things (IoT) devices, the latest report on the matter is allegedly a reliable one as it’s supposedly based on the information provided by a person close to the local branch of the company. Amazon Echo was launched in 2015 in the United States as part of an effort by the Seattle, Washington-based tech giant to foray into the IoT segment. The speaker connects users with Alexa, Amazon’s intelligent personal assistant that can be controlled with voice commands. The supposed launch of the Echo and Echo Dot in India is expected to help boost Alexa’s user base in the world’s second largest market of Internet users, according to some recent estimates.