Tomorrow is a big day for Amazon Alexa, that’s coming to Windows PCs, to spite Cortana. Acer is pulling off this move, by launching the famous assistant included in the TV show Mr. Robot on its devices. This is a premiere, which we detail below.
Acer announced this week that Alexa will be rolling out new Windows 10 PCs, within the Switch, Swift and Aspire series, that have Amazon Alexa on board. This is big news for Amazon, that already had its assistant on phones, tablets and various smart speakers. Acer’s notebooks are the first in the industry to offer this support, even the Acer Spin 3 and Acer Spin 5 series, which are available at retailers right now.
The inaugural models for this are the Acer Spin 5 and Acer Spin 3 devices, with availability slated for May 23 and the 26th respectively. Amazon Alexa has also been confirmed as supported on the Acer Nitro 5 Spin convertible gaming notebook line next month. Plus, the Aspire All in One PCs are also expected to get a similar treatment. We’re not 100% sure how well Alexa integrates with Windows 10 PCs and how much it lets you access from the OS.
A comical moment would have having Alexa start up Cortana or viceversa. Alexa can be asked to manage smart home devices from the PC, including lighting, thermostats and home appliances, all of that via voice. Amazon could have released Alexa in the Microsoft Store, to put it on all device brands, but Microsoft is probably not a big fan of that. In the meantime we expect Cortana to get an upgrade and become smarter, like Google Assistant did recently.
