Category: Alexa

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Alexa Amazon Echo App Everywhere B2B Apps Mobile Apps Push Notifications Smart Home Voice Commands

3 Reasons Why Radio Stations Should Have an Alexa Skill

voice controlled smart speaker

Smart speakers give radio the chance to bring back in-home listening. Listeners can now engage with their favorite radio stations by just using their voice to ask Alexa to play their favorite radio station in their bedroom, bathroom, living room, kitchen, etc.

Here are 3 reasons why radio stations should have an Alexa skill:

 
1. Engage your listeners by bringing back listening to your home
Alexa skills are giving your listeners the opportunity to listen to their favorite radio stations in their home! One key trend to keep in mind is that consumers are forming new habits and radio broadcasters have an opportunity to benefit from the changes in technology, voice, and interactive audio devices. Consumers today ask their Alexa device what the weather is like, to set a timer, or make a grocery list. They also want to listen to music while cleaning their house, cooking, relaxing, hanging out with friends… and now they have the chance to  just ask Alexa!
2. Control the Listener Experience 
Many radio streams are available today on Alexa through TuneIn. So, one may ask, “Why do I need an Alexa skill if I’m already on Alexa?” There are so many stations on TuneIn that many have the same name and you cannot be sure listeners will find your stream. Additionally, with TuneIn there is no opportunity to offer on-demand listening to your shows or your podcasts.
Having your own Alexa skill allows you to showcase your station’s personality right up front. It allows you to truly connect with your listeners and control their experience by making sure they are tuning in to your radio station.
3. Claim your name
When dealing with Amazon Alexa, you will ask for the radio station by name and Alexa needs to know the right phrase or “invocation”. Searching for content by voice doesn’t let you show the top ten search results, instead if offers only the top search result. So you have to get it right!
When you are thinking about getting an Alexa skill for your radio station, keep in mind the invocation names of the voice web are assigned on a first come first serve basis.
UX
 
Here’s a little fun fact to wrap it up…Some stations are finding that as much as 25% of their streaming is on smart speakers!
Smart speakers are truly taking over. They help build your audience, engage your audience, and connect with your listeners now more than ever.
We would love to talk mobile strategy and Alexa skills with you to help engage your audience. Contact our Director of Business Development, Sari Zalesin. sari@jacapps.com or 248-353-9030

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Alexa Amazon Echo B2B Apps Construction Mobile Apps Mobile Web Push Notifications

Connect with us at the CAM Tradeshow 2019!

Michigan Construction & Design Tradeshow 2019 hosted by CAM kicks off for a one-day conference on Tuesday, February 5th, and jācapps will be there to present and talk to you about taking your construction company mobile. In addition to the event’s productive networking, jācapps will hosting a workshop from 9:15am – 10:15am in one of the boardrooms!
Register today for our hour workshop where our COO, Bob Kernen will be discussing how construction businesses can leverage the ubiquity of smartphones to make their projects more efficient and profitable!

 

Construction In The Mobile World

Mobile apps are building the future and we are looking forward to this opportunity to meet local construction company owners, contractors, suppliers, architects, engineers and others to help take your companies mobile.
In the construction industry, where so many people do their jobs outside of a traditional office, whether it is training a mobile workforce, strengthening your safety procedures, and/or tracking your materials, mobile can make life a lot easier for communication and management. Mobile apps enhance communication, productivity, and transform bottom-line goals into reality across your project lifecycle. 
Here’s how:

  • Real-time logistics updates
  • Improved staff accountability
  • Easy, accurate document retrieval

But that’s not all, mobile construction apps have unlimited uses, such as:

  • Project management and productivity
  • Daily reporting and time entry
  • On-site photography and video
  • Safety trainings and monitoring

Mobile is the ultimate high-tech hand tool giving your projects a strong foundation. These are just a few of the ways our mobile solutions have helped clients succeed. We help clients differentiate themselves with complete custom solutions.
 
Don’t forget to register for our workshop and stop by booth 308 to learn more about how mobile strategy can impact your business! You will also get the chance to enter to win a FREE Amazon Alexa Echo Dot!
We look forward to seeing you at CAM’s Tradeshow 2019!
Register Here
If you are interested in expanding a mobile presence to support your business, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or 248-353-9030
 

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Alexa Amazon Echo App Everywhere Awards Connected Car Mobile Apps Push Notifications Radio

4 Ways to Engage Your Listeners with Mobile

Your audience is on mobile more than they’re on any other device! And with proper promotion on air, and online, there is no reason you can’t move a significant portion of your audience to use your station’s apps! Here are 4 important ways to engage your listeners on mobile.

Upstream

Our “open mic” feature allows listeners to use the microphone in their mobile device to interact directly with your station. Users can create a message with just a tap, and send it to your station personnel with another tap, creating immediate engagement with the audience. We’ve seen stations use Open Mic to take requests, or call in to talk shows.
The user can also send photos or videos. One of our clients uses Upstream to boost contest involvement. The station wanted their listener to send in a certain picture in order to win a prize and upstream made this so easy.

Push Notifications

We all get push messages on our phones all day, whether it be news alerts, sports scores or traffic updates. By sending your audience a push message, you can tell them what’s on your station, give them the inside scoop on station events and even pass along breaking news.
Instead of waiting for users to open the app, use push notifications to entice the user to open and use the app. Those messages might include popular app content, event reminders and promotions.

Social Media

One of the biggest benefits of integrating your social media presence into the app is that your listeners can post directly in the app! Let your users check out your morning show’s latest post, or picture, without ever leaving the app. You can display your social feeds separately – Twitter and Facebook – or with feeds from the station and a variety of hosts all pulled together in one social timeline.

Guides

The V4 app from jācapps has the ability to provide users a local directory to businesses or attractions. The guide contains a collection of locations, provided by your station, and can display that collection as an easy to scan list, or it can map those locations, providing one tap turn-by-turn directions. If you have a rock station, maybe you provide your listeners a local bar guide. An AC station could provide a directory of family-friendly activities. These guides are a great way to create another revenue stream for your station.
If you are interested in the apps we’ve built or a product of your own, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or (248) 353-9030

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Alexa Amazon Echo App Everywhere B2B Apps Mobile Apps news and press Smart Home

Digital Summit Detroit

Digital Summit Detroit 2018 kicks off for a two-day digital marketing gathering on Wednesday September 12th, and jācapps will be there to talk mobile strategy, and to mix with hundreds of other leaders in the digital space. We are looking forward to this opportunity to hear brilliant speakers, meet the best of Detroit’s digital industry and pick up some cool event swag! In addition to the event’s productive networking, jācapps will be exhibiting with examples of our most recent apps and some swag of our own!
There will be over 50 sessions and workshops that will provide info about the latest digital trends plus lots of practical, game-changing ideas to apply to your marketing strategy!
Additionally, there will be over 45 digital marketing sessions in mission-critical topic areas that include: Social, Email, Data & Analytics, Brand Storytelling, Search, Conversion & Engagement, UX & Design, Mobile, Strategy, B2B Marketing and B2C Marketing. As you can see digital and mobile are some of the hottest marketing topics this year.
You will get the opportunity to learn directly from the brands and leaders who you believe make the largest impact on today’s world economy now and in the future! Some of the brilliant speakers include; Chelsea Handler, Scott Dikkers, Cailin Lavallee, Andrew Malcom, Rob Lawson, Kraig Hansen, Amber Lewis, Nick Skislak and many more! Along with the learning experience, you’ll get insight from BuzzFeed, Waze, Discover, Jaguar, Salesforce, and many more!
Not only will you gain great content from the different sessions, you will also have the chance to engage in professional networking! There will be hundreds of professional marketers, strategists, designers, and more to connect and chat with.There is a countless amount of opportunities here that may lead into inspiration, partnerships and/or business deals that you will leave with after ONLY two days at Digital Summit Detroit!
We’re excited for our second year at DSD! If you are attending, let’s set up a meeting to talk about your mobile strategy! Stop by our booth between sessions for a chance for a chance to win a free smart speaker!
Get your tickets here!

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Alexa Amazon Echo App Everywhere B2B Apps Connected Car Google Home Mobile Apps Smart Home Smart TVs Voice Commands

Tech 248 Recap & Key Takeaways

On Tuesday, July 31st we hosted our first in house event, partnering with Tech248! We offered networking and refreshments while our executives gave brief updates on 2018’s mobile trends.  We couldn’t be more excited to see over 80 local business people attend our first event!
In case you missed it… here’s a little recap of the presentations and their key takeaways!

Apps For Business

Our COO, Bob Kernen gave an incredible presentation about apps for business. Bob refers to apps as a dynamic business tool. “We tend to think of apps as consumers – apps are these little tools people use to get us through our day. In reality, they are the most valuable real estate a marketer can have, and most importantly… ALL companies can participate.”
An app is self-contained piece of software that is designed to serve a discreet function and work on a specific type or types of devices. It leverages the power of your smartphone or tablet, way beyond the ability of a mobile browser. Mobile apps can be designed to help facilitate instant communication with customers.
App features an include: 

  • Real-time updates on product availability
  • Ability to request a quote or place an order
  • Provide login, video, and PDF sessions for education
  • Host an ultra-categorized, user-friendly product catalogue
  • Connect users with particular departments or teams instantly
  • And more!

With that being said…“There’s an app for that!” Did you know 81% of American adults use a smartphone… and mobile usage has surpassed desktop usage!

Media Consumption Trends

Our President, Paul Jacobs, gave great insight about the Media Trends in 2018. Paul touches on the results from Techsurvey 2018.

  1. We can definitely see a generational shift when it comes to media, as shown survey results, we see millennials and boomers both have the highest population dealing with media consumption.
  2. Here is the 2018 media pyramid representing media consumption, devices used, and trends between millennials and boomers: 
  3. In 2018, Techsurvey proves that audio streaming is still on the rise, and is quite balanced between male and female consumers. If your business has audio content to put out there – keep doing it!
  4. Lastly, in-car audio provides many different sources for content. The AM/FM radio is still standard but audiobooks, podcasts, streaming providers, and XM satellite are all sources for content and advertising if your business is trying to reach consumers on the go.

Now how do we here at jācapps relate to that? jācapps App Everywhere® provides solutions that encourage communication across all devices. We incorporate your brand through mobile phones, the connected car, smart TVs, smart speakers, tablets, and wearables.

Smart Speaker Update

Our Director of Business Development, Sari Zalesin, gave a great presentation about smart speakers! If you don’t know already… Alexa dominates the smart speaker space! Looking at smart speaker owners, 75% own Amazon Alexa only, 19% own Google Home only, and 6% own both Amazon Alexa and Google Home.
When it comes to business, Amazon Alexa skills need a strategy behind them. Creating “skills” is easy, but voice is actually something much larger! Voice is actually a whole new user interface, and more and more devices will be controlled by the human voice. With that being said, consider your business and how you might interact with users through voice. What content do you want delivered, and to whom? Do you have news, announcements, or recurring content? Or are you focusing on set database questions and answers?
Amazon Alexa has skills for all different industries, some of the hot industry skills around the US include; Healthcare, Automotive, and Food & Beverage.
Here are some great examples from her presentation: 

  • Healthcare –
    • Carolinas HealthCare created an Alexa skill where consumers can simply ask “Alexa, what is the nearest Carolinas urgent care or hospital?”
  • Automotive –
    • Ford and FCA partnered with Amazon to connect their cars to Alexa voice control for commands relating to appointments, trip management, and engine starting.
  • Food & Beverage –
    • TGI Friday’s created a skill allowing fans to place orders and make reservations with Alexa voice technology.

Overall, smart speakers are here to stay! Every business needs a voice strategy!

Thank you to all of the attendees and we hope to see you at future events!
We would also love to thank Farmington Brewing Company and Plum Market for catering with the best refreshments! The beer and food were a hit…we look forward to working with both companies for future events!
If you are interest in us, the apps we’ve built, or a product of your own, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or (248) 353-9030

Categories
Alexa Amazon Echo App Everywhere B2B Apps Connected Car Google Home Mobile Apps Smart Home Smart TVs Voice Commands

Tech 248 Recap & Key Takeaways

On Tuesday, July 31st we hosted our first in house event, partnering with Tech248! We offered networking and refreshments while our executives gave brief updates on 2018’s mobile trends.  We couldn’t be more excited to see over 80 local business people attend our first event!

In case you missed it… here’s a little recap of the presentations and their key takeaways!

Apps For Business

Our COO, Bob Kernen gave an incredible presentation about apps for business. Bob refers to apps as a dynamic business tool. “We tend to think of apps as consumers – apps are these little tools people use to get us through our day. In reality, they are the most valuable real estate a marketer can have, and most importantly… ALL companies can participate.”

An app is self-contained piece of software that is designed to serve a discreet function and work on a specific type or types of devices. It leverages the power of your smartphone or tablet, way beyond the ability of a mobile browser. Mobile apps can be designed to help facilitate instant communication with customers.

App features an include: 

  • Real-time updates on product availability
  • Ability to request a quote or place an order
  • Provide login, video, and PDF sessions for education
  • Host an ultra-categorized, user-friendly product catalogue
  • Connect users with particular departments or teams instantly
  • And more!

With that being said…“There’s an app for that!” Did you know 81% of American adults use a smartphone… and mobile usage has surpassed desktop usage!

Media Consumption Trends

Our President, Paul Jacobs, gave great insight about the Media Trends in 2018. Paul touches on the results from Techsurvey 2018.

  1. We can definitely see a generational shift when it comes to media, as shown survey results, we see millennials and boomers both have the highest population dealing with media consumption.
  2. Here is the 2018 media pyramid representing media consumption, devices used, and trends between millennials and boomers: 
  3. In 2018, Techsurvey proves that audio streaming is still on the rise, and is quite balanced between male and female consumers. If your business has audio content to put out there – keep doing it!
  4. Lastly, in-car audio provides many different sources for content. The AM/FM radio is still standard but audiobooks, podcasts, streaming providers, and XM satellite are all sources for content and advertising if your business is trying to reach consumers on the go.

Now how do we here at jācapps relate to that? jācapps App Everywhere® provides solutions that encourage communication across all devices. We incorporate your brand through mobile phones, the connected car, smart TVs, smart speakers, tablets, and wearables.

Smart Speaker Update

Our Director of Business Development, Sari Zalesin, gave a great presentation about smart speakers! If you don’t know already… Alexa dominates the smart speaker space! Looking at smart speaker owners, 75% own Amazon Alexa only, 19% own Google Home only, and 6% own both Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

When it comes to business, Amazon Alexa skills need a strategy behind them. Creating “skills” is easy, but voice is actually something much larger! Voice is actually a whole new user interface, and more and more devices will be controlled by the human voice. With that being said, consider your business and how you might interact with users through voice. What content do you want delivered, and to whom? Do you have news, announcements, or recurring content? Or are you focusing on set database questions and answers?

Amazon Alexa has skills for all different industries, some of the hot industry skills around the US include; Healthcare, Automotive, and Food & Beverage.

Here are some great examples from her presentation: 

  • Healthcare –
    • Carolinas HealthCare created an Alexa skill where consumers can simply ask “Alexa, what is the nearest Carolinas urgent care or hospital?”
  • Automotive –
    • Ford and FCA partnered with Amazon to connect their cars to Alexa voice control for commands relating to appointments, trip management, and engine starting.
  • Food & Beverage –
    • TGI Friday’s created a skill allowing fans to place orders and make reservations with Alexa voice technology.

Overall, smart speakers are here to stay! Every business needs a voice strategy!

Thank you to all of the attendees and we hope to see you at future events!

We would also love to thank Farmington Brewing Company and Plum Market for catering with the best refreshments! The beer and food were a hit…we look forward to working with both companies for future events!

If you are interest in us, the apps we’ve built, or a product of your own, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or (248) 353-9030

Categories
Alexa Amazon Echo Google Home Mobile Apps Smart Home

Consumer spending within app stores is expected to hit $110 billion in 2018

Consumer spending within all app stores is anticipated to surpass $110 billion in 2018, with a shift in popularity of app categories. Entertainment apps have typically gained more popularity with consumers, but need-based apps (e.g., food delivery, payments, etc.) are on the rise. Need-based apps are usually discovered through word of mouth, but more consumers have begun seeking them out to help simplify their daily lives. Additionally, Apple and Google have begun work to reorganize their app stores in an effort to make newer apps more discoverable to users, which is likely to promote more downloads.
Popularity of AR apps will also be on the rise in the new year. Facebook, Google and Apple previously announced they are working to expand their AR capabilities. This type of expansion will open up the app stores for more developers to publish AR apps, generating more excitement from users.

Image Source

Astonishingly, downloads for Amazon’s Alexa app surged from 1 million to 3 million within just 3 months last year. This year’s trends are expected to show a growth well beyond that mark as more virtual assistants have been released before the holiday season.
We at jācapps wish you and yours Happy Holidays and look forward to speaking with you about your mobile needs in the new year! Reach out to us at 248-353-9030 or marketing@jacapps.com to learn more.

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Alexa Amazon Echo Google Home Radio Smart Home Techsurvey

Smart speakers are this year's trending gifts

UX

We recently collaborated with our sister company, Jacobs Media and Sonic Ai on a national study regarding smart speakers. Our online study shows that one in five (20%) respondents age 13 and older with Internet access plan to purchase a voice-controlled smart speaker such as an Amazon Echo or Google Home during the 2017 holiday season.
Notably, more than one in six online households (18%) now own at least one smart speaker, with 40% of this group already having two or more of the devices in their household. Smart speaker owners are also especially likely to purchase another of these voice command gadgets for themselves or as a gift this holiday season. In fact, six in ten smart speaker owners (61%) plan to purchase at least one more device during this all-important gift-buying cycle.
The study also shows that one in ten online households (11%) specifically owns an Alexa-enabled Amazon smart speaker such as the Echo, Echo Dot and Show devices; the majority of these owners (69%) have at least one Alexa “skill” enabled, while 45% have two or more Alexa “skills” enabled.
Bob Kernen, COO of jācapps, notes, “With Black Friday and Cyber Monday now in the rearview mirror, both Amazon and Google continue to compete heavily to get as many of their smart speakers, now at their lowest price points ever, into as large a number of households as possible. This data strongly suggests smart speaker ownership will take off in the coming weeks.”
“Smart speakers are clearly the must-have gadget for the holidays. Like anything else, habits will form quickly which is the remarkable opportunity for broadcasters and podcasters. They need a smart audio strategy for smart speakers,” said Steve Goldstein, co-founder of Sonic Ai.
We can develop Alexa skills for your business. Reach out to us at 248-353-9030 or marketing@jacapps.com to learn more!

Categories
Alexa Amazon Echo Google Home Radio Smart Home Techsurvey

Smart speakers are this year’s trending gifts

UX

We recently collaborated with our sister company, Jacobs Media and Sonic Ai on a national study regarding smart speakers. Our online study shows that one in five (20%) respondents age 13 and older with Internet access plan to purchase a voice-controlled smart speaker such as an Amazon Echo or Google Home during the 2017 holiday season.

Notably, more than one in six online households (18%) now own at least one smart speaker, with 40% of this group already having two or more of the devices in their household. Smart speaker owners are also especially likely to purchase another of these voice command gadgets for themselves or as a gift this holiday season. In fact, six in ten smart speaker owners (61%) plan to purchase at least one more device during this all-important gift-buying cycle.

The study also shows that one in ten online households (11%) specifically owns an Alexa-enabled Amazon smart speaker such as the Echo, Echo Dot and Show devices; the majority of these owners (69%) have at least one Alexa “skill” enabled, while 45% have two or more Alexa “skills” enabled.

Bob Kernen, COO of jācapps, notes, “With Black Friday and Cyber Monday now in the rearview mirror, both Amazon and Google continue to compete heavily to get as many of their smart speakers, now at their lowest price points ever, into as large a number of households as possible. This data strongly suggests smart speaker ownership will take off in the coming weeks.”

“Smart speakers are clearly the must-have gadget for the holidays. Like anything else, habits will form quickly which is the remarkable opportunity for broadcasters and podcasters. They need a smart audio strategy for smart speakers,” said Steve Goldstein, co-founder of Sonic Ai.

We can develop Alexa skills for your business. Reach out to us at 248-353-9030 or marketing@jacapps.com to learn more!

Categories
Alexa Amazon Echo App Everywhere Google Home Mobile Apps Smart Home

You Don't SAi? Joint Venture Makes "Skills" for Amazon Echo and Google Home

amazon echo google home alexa smart home
Waves Sound in glow light. Abstract background. Vector illustration

Last week marked the debut of SonicAi – our new joint venture that develops “skills” for voice command devices – or “smart speakers” as they’re sometimes called.
amazon echo google home alexa smart home
We partnered with Steve Goldstein, Founder/CEO of Amplifi Media, to bring SonicAi, or SAi (“say”) for short, to life. The company’s focus is on designing and creating spoken word software for devices like Amazon Echo, or “Alexa,” as well as Google Home. These gadgets are showing up in more and more homes, offices, and other spaces every day.
From time-shifted audio like podcasts to featuring key station content that can be easily accessed and shared, our vision is to use the power of spoken voice commands to enhance the radio experience.

amazon echo google home alexa smart home
Ben, one of our Mobile Developers, hanging out with “Alexa” and Google Home

Jacobs Media, our sister company, has been tracking ownership of “smart speakers” in Techsurvey 13 and found that 11% of homes have one. And they’ve found that listeners who love formats that range from Alternative to AC to Sports Talk are grabbing up these devices in nearly equal numbers, indicating their mass appeal. In fact, Gartner predicts that 75% of U.S. homes will have one by 2020, and 20% will have two.
What this means for your station is that you need to engage with your audience beyond their phone, tablet, and even their car. You need to follow them wherever they may be. This means offering them apps everywhere, or App Everywhere® as we like to say. Furthermore, you need to make it easier for them to access your content. And what better way than using their own voice? Matt Hartman suggests that voice provides the lowest friction between consumers and them getting what they want, which is what makes offering your listeners these “skills” for voice command devices so important.
Check out this video to learn more about what SonicAi is all about:

To learn even more, click here.
Reach out to us today to discuss your mobile strategy and how we can help grow your business. Give us a call at 248-353-9030 or email sales@jacapps.com.