Amazon Drops Price of Echo Dot, Starts Selling It to Everyone

Amazon’s Echo Dot is in many ways the little sibling of the more full-blown Echo. It is also priced cheaper at $50, saving customers a good $40 off the older model that was priced at $89.99. It also comes in two color options: gloss black and gloss white.

Amazon announced on Wednesday that its voice-controlled speaker Echo will be released in United Kingdom and Germany this fall and a new white model will be launched in the US.

Amazon’s David Limp said Echo was the result of the technology giant’s desire to build a computer similar to that seen in the Star Trek television series, where characters could “talk to the computer anywhere”.

The Dot, which at just 3.3 inches wide by 1.3 inches tall is the smallest of Amazon’s Alexa-enabled devices, will start shipping October 20. For those unfamiliar, the Echo works by a specific activation code in which the user “wakes” it by calling it by its name (most use “Alexa”).

The Amazon Echo Dot has been out of stock for quite a long while, and it was announced yesterday that the product is making a return in the markets. Directly connect Echo Dot to speakers with an audio cable or via Bluetooth, and add voice-control to your home stereo system. That’s why the Echo Dot includes Echo Spatial Perception (ESP), which “intelligently calculates the clarity of the customer’s voice” and determines which Echo Dot will respond.

Following today’s announcement of the Amazon Echo in the United Kingdom (and Germany, the latter on an invite-only basis), the retail giant has now also unveiled the all new Amazon Echo Dot in the USA. You can buy a standalone Dot for $49.99, while a pack of six costs $249.99 (but five get on free).

The Amazon Echo has the ability to play songs and other media via voice control with Alexa.

In the wake of all that, we’re seeing a steady stream of Alexa announcements from third parties eager to hop onto Amazon’s bandwagon.