THE AMAZON ECHO is remarkably useful. Alexa, the digital personal assistant within the cylindrical black gadget, plays music, helps with recipes, and orders stuff online. One thing it cannot do, however, is speak Chinese.  The LingLong DingDong can.

Source: Wired Magazine

Date: November 23rd, 2016

Link: https://www.wired.com/2016/11/behold-chinas-answer-amazon-echo-linglong-dingdong/

Discussion

1) Why did Amazon not develop this device for the Chinese market?

2) “The DingDong comes in Mandarin and Cantonese versions (the engines required to understand the languages are too complex to include them both in one device). Most people speak Mandarin, and the myriad accents and dialects present a Herculean challenge. Still, the company claims the DingDong understands roughly 95 percent of the population.”  What does this mean for others trying to penetrate the Chinese marketspace?