Amazon and Google just might save the home phone
Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google are considering a new use for their popular home speakers: becoming the home phone.Amazon’s Echo or the Google Home could be used to make or receive calls, people familiar with the matter said, a functionality that would give them further control over consumers’ digital lives at home.The tech giants could launch the feature this year, the people said—but the effort is hung up over concerns about privacy, telecom regulations and emergency services. And they are aware of the inherent awkwardness of having phone conversations on a speaker.
Source: Amazon and Google Consider Turning Smart Speakers Into Home Phones – WSJ
The explosion of the mobile phone, combined with the chord-cutting revolution has spelled the demise of the home for years now. While young Millenials are foregoing a home phone number altogether, the total number of fixed phone lines in the United States still stands at more than 1 billion.
Google and Amazon are looking at its Digital Voice Assistants as a means for going after those 1 billion fixed phone lines . . .
