If Amazon ever plans on launching its Echo line of voice-activated assistant products in Canada, now seems like the perfect opportunity to do so.
Google’s Home has already dropped north of the U.S. border, complete with localized features, including french-language support, and has been relatively well-received by consumers.
MobileSyrup has also heard in the past from various sources that a Canadian Echo launch is imminent and that it’s set to go down in time for the 2017 Holiday shopping season, but new Canadian Amazon Alexa related job postings have added further fuel to the speculation fire.
Via popular job listing ‘professional’ social network LinkedIn, Amazon has posted a variety of opportunities, both at its Ottawa and Toronto office, though two particular listings standout.
One listing in particular for a job called “Alexa Event“– located at Amazon’s Toronto office — is seeking developers to work on Amazon’s voice-activated assistant. There are also a variety of other Alexa-related job listings on Linkedin, including an “SDET Level 5 developer,” all at the tech giant’s Toronto-based office.
Back in June 2017, Amazon revealed plans to open an Ottawa office focused on Alexa development. The company also committed to hiring 200 new people at its Toronto office dedicated to the “development of projects for Amazon Alexa,” “the voice-controlled intelligent persona assistant,” leading to speculation surrounding the Echo’s Canadian launch.
Various trademarks, including one for a “Works with Amazon Alexa” logo, which is commonly found on products like Philips’ array of smart home Hue products, have been filed at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), with a filing date of June, 16th, 2017.
It will be interesting to see if Amazon opts to release the first Echo, originally launched back in 2014, exclusively to Prime members, before a wider release in 2015, or subsequent versions of the voice-activated standalone assistant, including the Dot, the Look and the most-recently released Show.
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
