Amazon is bringing its Echo speaker and Alexa smart personal assistant to India and Japan, the company said on Wednesday, marking its first foray into Asia with those products.
The U.S. e-commerce giant said that Alexa and Echo are now available by invitation in India, and are coming to Japan later this year.
Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Plus are voice-controlled speakers that have Amazon’s artificial intelligence (AI) personal assistant Alexa built in. They allow users to talk to the speaker to carry out tasks such playing music or setting reminders.
The devices will start shipping in India later this month, and Alexa and Echo will be available in Japan later this year.
It’s unclear whether Alexa will understand Hindi and Japanese, or whether users will need to speak in English. CNBC has reached out to Amazon for clarification.
