Amazon is making a major play for Windows PCs

Mike Segar/Reuters

• Several PC manufacturers have announced new computers coming in 2018 that will support Amazon's popular voice assistant, Alexa, hands-free.
• Some of these new PCs will come with special hardware that will make Alexa respond to commands more quickly and hear you better over loud music.
• This move is emblematic of Amazon's goal to put Alexa everywhere, in every device.

Amazon is putting its Alexa assistant into everything these days.

The Seattle-based company started with TV streaming boxes and standalone Echo speakers - but now, Alexa is getting into more gadgets, computers, and devices, even those made by companies not named Amazon.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, several Windows PC manufacturers announced new computers coming in 2018 that will support Amazon's popular voice assistant, Alexa, all hands-free - just like how you'd interact with an Amazon Echo.

This deal is apparently unrelated to the partnership Amazon struck with Microsoft last year, which would let Alexa and Microsoft's Cortana voice assistant "talk to each other" on Windows 10 PCs. An Amazon spokesperson said these new Alexa integrations are unrelated.

HP, Acer, and Asus all announced new computers to support Alexa at CES: HP has its spaceship-like Pavilion Wave PC, while Acer promised Alexa would launch on "select Aspire, Spin, Switch and Swift notebooks, as well as Aspire all-in-one PCs starting from Q1 2018." Asus says some of its Zenbook and Vivobook laptops will also support Alexa.

Some of these new PCs - like Acer's lineup - will come with special hardware that will let Alexa respond to commands more quickly and hear you better over loud music, similar to Amazon's own Echo devices. But all of these computers will use a new Alexa app for Windows 10, which is coming later this year.

While it's unclear how many customers will be enticed by these specific Windows PCs, Amazon should be very happy about having HP, Acer and Asus commit to supporting Alexa. As Google and Apple continue growing and expanding their own personal assistants, Amazon has maintained its lead on those companies by getting Alexa into as much hardware as possible. And you'll find Alexa on so many devices these days, from light bulbs to ovens to vacuum cleaners, but heading to Windows 10 PCs is a very big deal considering how many people use and rely on Windows PCs every day. These particular PCs are likely to expose more people to Alexa, which only helps Amazon bring more people into its ecosystem.

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