Bose is following Sonos lead and bringing Google Assistant to its Amazon Alexa-enabled smart speakers.
According to the press release, the entire line of smart speakers and sound bars from Bose will have support for Google Assistant. That includes the Bose Home Speaker 500, Bose Soundbar 500, Bose Soundbar 700 and the Bose Home Speaker 300 (which isn’t yet available). Bose also says that new smart speakers from the products will also have access to Google Assistant.
Those that own those smart speakers listed above, should see an over-the-air update available for their speakers in the Bose Music app. Just install the update and you’ll be able to then choose which Assistant you want to use – Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. The update is beginning to rollout now, so it may not be available right away. But it should be there within the next few days. As companies do typically do slow rollouts for big updates like this.
Once you have installed the update, just tap on Voice Services within the Bose Music app. There you’ll be able to add Google Assistant. You’ll need to grant it access to your account, of course. Which should only take a couple of minutes. It’s a pretty straight-forward method. But Bose does need access to your Google account in order to use the Google Assistant.
Now that the Google Assistant is available on these smart speakers from Bose, you’re going to be able to control your music on these speakers. You can also control your smart home products and much more. The Google Assistant is adding a ton of new features all the time. This also means that you’ll be able to get rid of your Google Home smart speakers, in favor of smart speakers that you already have around your home. Which is a pretty nice thing to be able to do.
With Sonos and Bose both opting for using both assistants, it wouldn’t be surprising to see companies continue to follow their footsteps. Allowing a user to choose between which digital voice assistant they want to use, is a pretty big deal. Some users may prefer Amazon Alexa, since it is better with smart home products and it also is great for those that are invested in the Amazon ecosystem with Fire TV and Fire Tablets. While others may prefer Google Assistant because it can do just about everything else really well. And if you have an Android smartphone, it’s going to be the better option. Now, instead of letting the company choose which assistant to use, it can leave that choice to the consumer. And won’t need to make the same smart speaker twice, with different assistants built-in.
The fact that you can run both assistants on these speakers at the same time is a pretty big deal. And it’s a great thing. This was what was really keeping a lot of speaker companies from going all-in with smart speakers. So don’t be surprised when we see more smart speakers hitting the market in the coming months.