In this episode, Teri welcomes Bradley Metrock, the brains behind the VoiceFirst.FM network.

Welcome, Bradley Metrock!

Bradley is the CEO of Score Publishing which runs the Digital Book World, The Alexa Conference, The Voice of Healthcare Summit, and the global podcast network VoiceFirst.FM. The Alexa Conference will be taking place between January 15 to 17th 2019 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The conference is a worldwide gathering of Alexa developers and enthusiasts.

VoiceFirst.FM

  • Has a number of podcasts across the world that people enjoy, including the Alexa in Canada podcast.
  • The podcasts have a total of more than 100,000 listeners across 56 countries.

Top Stories of 2018

  • Apple failed to be more competitive. Siri has made some strides but Apple is still flailing about at the end of 2018. New consumer habits are being formed on a daily basis and they don’t involve the Apple ecosystem, but instead involve the Amazon Alexa and Google ecosystem.
  • Samsung rolled out their new developer tools and showed an entirely new paradigm for how development on a voice assistant will work for Bixby. This means Samsung is going to be fertile ground for third-party developers. They’re going to be a healthy competitor for Amazon and Google.
  • Google Duplex came out over the summer and it was so advanced that it shocked the market.
  • Amazon has had a good year. They have sold a huge amount of devices and they have had a steady drumbeat of new features that have come out over the course of the year. They have entered into many new locations, not just the US.
  • Research shows the use of voice assistants and smart speakers has reduced usage of the smartphone.
  • Prediction: By December 2019, Samsung will be just as much a part of the conversion with activity around voice assistants like third-party development and general growth, as Amazon and Google.
  • Amazon has a huge lead, a huge install base for Echo devices, a huge developer community, and a huge community of evangelists.

Top Stories for 2018 with Bradley Metrock of VoiceFirst.FM

The Alexa Conference

  • It is the worldwide gathering of the Alexa development community.
  • 2019 is the 3rd year it’s taking place. It’s the first year that Amazon has supported the event as a platinum sponsor.
  • There will be more than 500 people. There will be a lot of exhibitors showcasing products and services related to Alexa.
  • There will be the first dedicated exhibit hall to Alexa dubbed “The Alexa World Fair”
  • There will be an awards program called “The Alexa Awards”
  • The overall goal of the conference is to gather together the Alexa development community as well as many other enthusiasts who include executives, marketers, developers and strategists.
  • Legendary entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell will be co-presenting about his new company, X2 Games, which is a game developer that is only creating games for Alexa. He will also talk about their new murder mystery game called St. Noire.
  • Gimlet Media, a huge narrative fiction podcast company, will be there sharing how they have used smart speakers.
  • Mayo Clinic will be there talking about how they have deployed voice technology in their organization.

List of resources mentioned in this episode:

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