The Echo, Amazon’s smart speaker range powered by virtual assistant Alexa, was launched in November 2014. According to Strategy Analytics’ forecasts, 148.8 million units will be sold globally this year, with an installed base exceeding 260 million units by year-end.

Currently , Echo dominates the market, with 21.9% market share, with Google’s Home range taking second place. Other players include Apple and Sonos, but strong growth is also being experienced in Asia Pacific from companies such as Baidu, Alibaba and Xiaomi. However, nearly five years after the initial launch, and despite unit costs decreasing, the smart speaker still hasn’t arrived in any great scale in South Africa.