Acer today announces that Amazon Alexa will be coming to select Aspire, Spin, Switch and Swift notebooks, as well as Aspire all-in-one PCs starting from Q1 2018. Amazon Alexa will initially be available in the US via an update through Acer Care Center, while wider support is expected to be rolled out mid-2018.
"Acer is excited to be among the first brands to bring Alexa to PCs," said Jerry Kao, President of IT Products Business of Acer Inc. "With industry-leading audio technology across our portfolio, we’re providing consumers the possibility to interact with multiple voice services on their notebook or desktop. Alexa lets users do thousands of things and we’re now bringing those capabilities natively to PCs."
“We’re delighted that Acer will bring Alexa to PC customers,” said Steve Rabuchin, Vice President, Amazon Alexa. “Hands-free access to Alexa on PCs can be helpful to customers in many ways, like making it simple to interact with your smart home, get news or weather, set timers, and more. This is a big step toward making Alexa available wherever customers might need her.”
Enabled by Intel Smart Sound Technology, an integrated audio DSP (Digital Signal Processor) built to handle audio, voice, and speech interactions, many of Acer’s latest notebooks and desktops will support Amazon Alexa and respond to voice commands quickly while offering high fidelity audio without impacting system performance.
“The PC is the ultimate device to bring all your digital experiences together,” said Anand Srivatsa, General Manager of Intel’s Desktop, Channel and Systems Group. “By introducing voice services like Alexa paired with Intel Smart Sound Technology, we anticipate that the PC will serve an even more important role in maximizing your productivity, getting the most from your entertainment, and managing the smart home or office.”
