Google Home Speaker available for preorder, launches June 25

Google Home Speaker available for preorder, launches June 25">

The wait for Google's new smart home speaker is finally over. After announcing the device last August, Google has set a release date for June 25. The Google Home Speaker is available for preorder today, priced at $99.99.

The Google Home Speaker is Google's first home audio device in almost six years, following the Nest Audio which debuted in September 2020. The new device has a small, round design, described as an oblate spheroid, and is covered in partially recycled fabric available in four colors: hazel, porcelain, jade, and berry, with jade and berry limited to the US. According to Google, the device produces "360-degree sound" for a uniform listening experience anywhere in a room.

The Google Home Speaker features a light ring around the bottom that glows when the device is listening, "thinking," or responding. This design element is becoming a trend with Google, as the company will require a similar glowing lightbar embellishment on upcoming Googlebook laptops. The speaker has three far-field microphones distributed around it to pick up speech, and a mute switch for when users don't want it listening for the "OK Google" trigger.

Why this matters: The Google Home Speaker's release marks a significant expansion of Google's smart home offerings, and its competitive pricing and features position it to challenge Amazon's Echo and other smart speakers on the market. For developers, this means new opportunities to integrate their services with Google Assistant, while businesses will need to consider how to adapt their products and services to work seamlessly with the new speaker. For consumers, the Google Home Speaker offers a new option for smart home audio, but raises questions about data privacy and the potential for increased dependence on voice assistants.

As the smart home market continues to evolve, it remains to be seen how Google's new speaker will fit into the broader ecosystem and what implications it will have for the industry as a whole.