Google will unveil its Home and Home Mini series of smart speakers in India on April 10. Ahead of the launch, Flipkart has already put-up a microsite dedicated to the products stating that they will soon be available on the e-commerce platform. This hints at the possibility that the smart speakers could be available exclusively from the online retailer.
In case you're very keen on buying one of the speakers, you can register to be notified via the Flipkart app for when the speakers go on sale. Google has already sent the invite for their upcoming event which will take place in New Delhi and it reads, “Join us as we bring you a sweet little something that’s bound to keep you talking for a long, long while.” As far as the pricing of the speakers is concerned, the Google Home and the Google Home Mini are priced at $129 (Rs 8,500 approx) and $49 (Rs 3,200 approx) in the US, and they are expected to be priced the same in India to compete with the Amazon’s Echo range of smart speakers. The first Google Home speaker was unveiled globally in 2016.
A week ahead of the Google Home smart speakers launch in India, the company has also updated the devices to support Gaana and Saavn, two of the popular music streaming services in the country. A Reddit user has posted screenshots of the two services working on the Google Home speaker with the option being displayed as default music playback options, in addition to Google Play Music. You can read more about this here.
As mentioned earlier, Google's smart speakers will go up against Amazon’s Echo Dot, Echo and the Echo Plus, which are already available in India and are priced at Rs 4,499, Rs 9,999 and at Rs 14,999 respectively. The devices come integrated with the company’s smart assistant Alexa, which can be used to play music, shop online and more using voice commands. In our first impressions of the Amazon Echo, we said that, “As a techie, I am really impressed with the Echo since it’s a device I have been looking forward to for a while now. It lets me shop, listen to ‘desi’ and international and music, play games when I am bored, stay updated with the latest locally relevant news, control connected appliances and more. It even entertains my house help when I’m not at home. If all this is something you are looking for in a smart speaker, the Echo Plus can be yours at Rs 10,499. If you are someone only interested in Amazon Music and Alexa’s skills, without a smart home hub for connected appliances, you will be better off with the cheaper Echo or the Echo Dot. Meanwhile, we will spend some more time with the Echo Plus as it learns, grows and evolves in India”.