Amazon Echo Uses Alexa To Provide Yelp Generated Recommendations

On Amazon.com, the "" section in the description of - the company's voice-enabled robotic assistant - now includes mention that "Alexa's" (the name for the voice that Echo generates) answers to inquiries about locals businesses will come "straight from Yelp". Once the assistant locates the place, it can also inquire even more specific details of the establishment like its work hours, address or a phone number for delivery services. Amazon does add, too, that Yelp search results will likely become available in a future for now, though, you can use Yelp to take advantage of recommendations for everything from Halloween costumes to candy. The feature only works, however, if location information has been input into the Echo app, otherwise Alexa can not gauge a user's location.

Yelp recommendation is a huge addition to Echo, and in our mind, could make the device more of an asset in the home than it was before. There are high chances that Amazon's update will land it into competition with Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) "Hey Siri" feature. The speaker in itself has also been battling competitors in the market and has ended up being a less wanted product in comparison to others.

Online speculation suggests that users will gain access to their required information through Alexa.

According to the details shared by Amazon about the update released on Friday, Echo Bluetooth speaker's Alexa voice assistant can now plug into Yelp to pull local search results. Now it has the ability to give you information about local businesses. It will establish secure relations with businesses, who may benefit from the tech giant's current user-base and reputation to promote its own businesses forward.