Harman Unveils JBL Authentics Speakers Integrating Google Assistant and Alexa, Breaking the Long-Standing Barrier

Google Assistant and Alexa Finally Play Nice with Each Other

After years of fierce brawling, Google Assistant and Alexa are finally playing nicely together.

New JBL Authentics Speakers Integrate Both AI Assistants

Harman today announced new additions to its JBL Authentics speaker lineup that integrate both Google Assistant and Alexa — the first devices on the market to do so. The Authentics 200, Authentics 300 and Authentics 500, all of which sport automatic self-tuning, Bluetooth and multi-room playback, will be available starting on September 17.

Leveling the Playing Field

For years, Google has resisted enabling manufacturers — outside of Sonos, at least — to build smart devices featuring both Google Assistant and Alexa. That’s led Amazon to ramp up the pressure — not necessarily out of a sense of altruism, but to level what it perceived as an uneven playing field.

A Battle of Install Bases

While Alexa has a respectable install base — about 500 million devices as of early this year — Google’s long benefited from shipping Google Assistant as the default assistant on Android smartphones. (This preferential treatment was once the subject of an EU antitrust investigation.) In 2019, Google said that Google Assistant was available on more than 1 billion devices.

A Change in Tune

So in 2020, Amazon launched the Voice Interoperability Initiative, a program aimed at ensuring voice-enabled products such as smart speakers, smartphones and smart displays let users choose among multiple voice assistants. Google, along with Samsung and Apple, declined to join. But now the search giant’s changing its tune.

The Benefits of Dual-Assistant Integration

On the new JBL Authentics speakers, Google Assistant and Alexa will work interchangeably. Users will be able to ask Alexa to set a timer, for example, and, when it rings, ask Google Assistant to stop it (and vice versa).

That’s thanks to what Amazon calls universal device commands (UDC), functionality driven by Amazon’s Multi-Agent Experience Toolkit, which was borne out of the Voice Interoperability Initiative.

Complementary Assistants

But aren’t Google and Amazon concerned about engagement with either Google Assistant or Alexa suffering now that both assistants are on one device? Apparently, no. In a remarkable change in tune, Rubenson and Chacko say that they see the assistants as being “complementary” rather than competitive with each other.

Future Integrations Depend on User Reception

But there’s important subtext. Smart speaker sales have been in decline for some time. Shipments were down 30% in Q1 2023, the sixth quarterly consecutive dip. And according to a survey by UpCity, a business-to-business service directory, only half of U.S. consumers are using voice search daily.

Declining sales likely aren’t the only reason to blame for the shifting corporate priorities. As it turns out, it’s hard to make money with voice assistants.

But be all this as it may, the Harman/Amazon collaboration could end up being a one-off. Chacko wouldn’t commit to future Google Assistant and Alexa integrations, implying that it’ll depend on how this one’s received.

“It’s early to determine this integration’s impact,” she said. “While we don’t have any plans to share about future integrations, we’re excited to see how …. [users] utilize having simultaneous access to both Google Assistant and Alexa at home.”

A Temporary Alliance

In other words, it’s a temporary alliance — not a lasting truce.