Facebook’s Smart Speaker May Be Launched Internationally First

It has long been rumored that Facebook is developing its very own smart speaker and while the company was reportedly going to release it in the first half of this year, the data privacy scandal may have caused it to delay the product’s release. According to a new report, Facebook might go for an international launch of its smart speaker first before launching it in the United States to avoid public scrutiny of any further data privacy issues.

Citing two people who have had discussions with Facebook about the smart speaker, CNBC reports that Facebook is thinking about selling its smart speakers internationally before they’re launched in the United States. This may help the product avoid additional scrutiny on user privacy issues by politicians and users.

One of the two smart speakers that Facebook has in the pipeline will reportedly have a camera and a touchscreen. It will connect directly to Facebook Messenger thus enabling users to easily stay in touch with friends and family. A smart voice assistant will also be onboard that’s going to be powered by Facebook’s M artificial intelligence program.

The M program previously gave us the personal assistant chatbot on Messenger but Facebook shut down that iteration of this technology in January this year. The report mentions that the company hasn’t completely shut down the M program and will develop it into a voice assistant instead.

An international launch won’t just avoid further scrutiny in the United States, it will also help the company’s new devices establish a bigger presence in markets overseas where competitors from the likes of Google and Amazon are not as popular. Facebook hasn’t confirmed or denied this report as yet.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: Facebook, smart speakers