The work we do at Yext is focused on helping companies understand what data they can control and empowering them to manage that data. So from that perspective, there was a lot of support to explore that developing space. Personally, I've always been an early adopter. Over the past decade of my life, I've had the good fortune to see the cutting edge of technology up close and interact with it personally, so the "voice" has grown into what we have today I signed up and watched his progress. MR: The main players in the space have been established. Do you see room for other competitors to enter the voice arena? DF: Absolutely. There is currently a boom in
China with dozens of new companies entering the smart speaker space. While most won't survive, it's inevitable that new devices will hit our shores jewelry retouching service next year, driving down prices and increasing adoption. Most of this expansion will be in white label products (Google Assistant built into a Samsung TV, for example), but from a consumer perspective it will be less about buying because of the built-in assistant and more on brand awareness around products.
People don't buy the Samsung TV because of Google Assistant (or Siri, or Cortana, or IBM, etc.), they buy it because Samsung makes great TVs. The voice assistant is a nice addition. This is our immediate future. Over time, however, this could change if one or more of the leaders make significant technological breakthroughs that provide clear differentiation and improvements. MR: Is there anything holding back even greater adoption of voice-enabled devices? DF: