San Francisco, Aug 17 : Google is reportedly preparing to launch a display-equipped smart speaker in a direct competition with Amazon and Alibaba Group Holding in the voice-activated gadgets category.

"Google targets to ship some three million units for the first batch of the new model of smart speaker that comes with a screen. It's an aggressive plan," Nikkei Asian Review quoted an industry source as saying on Thursday.

The new product would be part of the Google Home range of smart speakers, running on Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based Google Assistant, similar to Amazon's "Echo Show", which is a pair of two-inch speakers with a 7-inch touchscreen that display  visual output for Alexa's responses.

Google's upcoming model with the display is still likely to rely on voice commands, but users should be able to play YouTube videos, check their calendars and view maps, the report added.

The Android developer's AI speaker lineup currently features the standard Google Home, the cost-effective Home Mini and the high-end Home Max.

The first two options are positioned against Amazon's regular Echo and Echo Dot, while the top-of-the-line model competes with Apple's HomePod, which comes with the Siri voice assistant.

The search engine giant accounted for 36 per cent of over 9 million smart speakers units shipped in the January-March period of 2018 with Amazon acquiring a 28 per cent market share.

Other technology players, including JBL, Lenovo, LG and Sony have also signed up to make screen-equipped smart speakers.



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New Delhi, Nov 5: The mega auction ahead of the Indian Premier League 2025 will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on November 24 and 25, the BCCI announced on Tuesday.

This is the second successive year the auction is being held overseas as Dubai hosted the previous one ahead of the IPL 2024.

The player registration officially closed on Monday and a total of 1,574 cricketers (1,165 Indian and 409 overseas) have been signed up for the auction, which will clash with the third and fourth day’s play of the first Test between India and Australia in Perth, which begins on November 22.

Each franchise will be able to form a maximum squad of 25 players (including respective retained players), and a total of 204 slots will be up for grabs from the auction.

The list includes 320 capped players, 1,224 uncapped players and 30 players from the Associate Nations.

Among capped players, 48 are from India. Moreover, 965 uncapped players of the country will also be part of the auction.

This year’s auction will feature some high-profile India stars such as Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Arshdeep Singh.

The 10 franchises will collectively have around Rs 641.5 crore to spend for the available 204 slots.

Out of those 204 slots, 70 are earmarked for overseas players.

As of now, 46 players have been retained by the 10 franchises with cumulative expenditure of Rs 558.5 crore.

Each franchise was allocated Rs 120 crore to build their squads but after the retention process, which was announced on October 31, Punjab Kings have the biggest purse -- Rs 110.5 crore.

The Punjab outfit retained just two uncapped players -- Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh for Rs 9.5 crore.

Rajasthan Royals, under Sanju Samson, have the smallest purse of Rs 41 crore after retaining six players.

The Kolkata Knight Riders have also retained six players but they have a remaining purse of Rs 51 crore.