Amazon Echo speakers powered by Alexa now available in India across offline and online retail channels without invites

Amazon will now start selling the Echo Dot, Echo and Echo Plus smart speakers without an invite on its own platform as well as through popular offline retailers such as Croma, Reliance, Vijay Sales and Crossword.

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Amazon India has announced that the Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Plus smart speakers with the Alexa assistant will now be available across offline and online retail channels. The company has tied up with popular brick-and-mortar retailers including Croma, Reliance, Vijay Sales and Crossword, to sell its Echo range of speakers offline. Meanwhile, the smart speakers can now be purchased through Amazon.in without an invite. When the Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Plus were launched in India, they could only be purchased using an invite sent by Amazon. At the time of launch, all three smart speakers features around 10,000 Alexa skills and in January, Amazon announced that Alexa on the Echo speakers now offers over 12,000 skills.

The Amazon Echo range of speakers are available in three different form factors and prices. The smallest of the lot is the Echo Dot which is priced at Rs 4,499, followed by the Echo priced at Rs 9,999 and then the largest of the lot, the Echo Plus at Rs 14,999. The speakers are voice activated and house Amazon’s smart assistant Alexa to automate and complete daily tasks.

The best part about the Amazon Echo devices is their integration with the Amazon Music service which offers a large library of local and international music which can be played using simple voice commands. Besides connecting to the internet for information and other activities such as controlling smart home devices, the Echo speakers can also be used as Bluetooth speakers. Head here to check out everything you can do with the Amazon Echo Plus in India.

In terms of specifications, the Echo speakers feature 360 degree omnidirectional audio and Far-Field Voice Recognition technology that lets the speakers hear users even in noisy environments. The Echo Dot features a 0.6" tweeter, the Echo houses a 2.5" woofer and a 0.6" tweeter, while the Echo Plus integrates a 2.5" woofer and a 0.8" tweeter. Of the three, only the Amazon Echo Plus functions as a smart home hub.