Facebook smart speakers coming in July 2018

Facebook smart speakers are on the way and will be taking on the likes of Google, Apple and Amazon in the voice activated devices field. By the middle of the year, July at the latest, they are understood to be launching two different models, codenamed Aloha and Fiona, and both will have 15-inch touchscreens, rather like the Amazon Echo Show.

The Aloha device will reportedly be more sophisticated than Fiona. The Aloha will apparently be marketed under the official name of Portal and will not just use voice commands but will also feature facial recognition technology to identify users to Facebook via a wide-angle lens on the front of the unit.

And the Portal will also come with more social networking functions. Both will come equipped with music because Facebook has signed music licensing agreements with both Sony and Universal Music to further enhance their appeal.

The opportunities for Facebook are obvious. These smart speakers will make it easy to access and consume all the social content that your friends share on Facebook, including videos with the screen, and also potentially power shopping too. The immediacy of such devices means that they are front and centre in people’s every day life and it brings Facebook into the fore as people listen to music and control their central heating, among other things.

Central to Facebook’s smart speaker strategy is the visual aspect and the high quality camera. Video is increasingly important to Facebook users and these devices will offer a quick and easy way to check out video content away from their phone and computer. And there are ecommerce possibilities too: Facebook is increasingly looking to its marketplace functionality for revenue. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that the Facebook smart speakers could also be used to shop there and even make grocery orders in the future.