Amazon unveiled earlier last year the Echo Show, a smart speaker with a screen designed to let Alexa do more things other than talking. Today, Amazon is expanding what the Echo Show has to offer to users along with its other screen-based smart speaker, the Echo Spot.
The e-commerce giant and Getty Images have announced a new partnership in which the visual communication company"s vast collection of images will become available on the Echo devices with a screen as part of their visual search results.
Regarding the new team-up, Peter Orlowsky, Senior Vice President of Strategic Development for Getty Images, said:
Our premier collection of editorial, creative and archival content is a natural fit for Amazon"s Echo products, bringing best-in-class visuals to Echo users. We are honored to unite with Echo"s screen-based products and to use our deep library of content to give Alexa her best look yet.
The searches through which Getty"s images will appear include general knowledge like the capital cities of countries and current events like the winners of the Academy Awards, among others. Getty Images currently has a catalog of more than 200 million digital images covering global news, arts, business, sports, and entertainment.
For Amazon, the partnership is expected to make the Echo devices more attractive to users looking to gain access to a variety of premium images. Additionally, the deal could give Amazon the leverage to help mold the future of visual search.