Echo Spot Is Now Shipping to US Customers

Today we are excited to announce Echo Spot is now shipping to customers in the US. Echo Spot brings customers everything they love about Alexa and Echo in an all-new compact design, combining the power of voice with a visual display. This opens up new opportunities for skill developers to create engaging experiences using the interactive touch display on Echo Show and Echo Spot.

Create Great Multimodal Experiences for Echo Show and Echo Spot

With the addition of Echo Spot, customers have even more ways to interact with voice. You can now create great multimodal experiences, using the Voice Design Guide to help you define an engaging experience for your customers via Echo Show and Echo Spot.

A custom skill for Echo Show and Echo Spot can include an interactive touch display in its response, in addition to standard voice interaction. Customers can now interact with Alexa through the voice user interface (VUI), graphical user interface (GUI) and touch elements of Echo Show and Echo Spot. Consider how all of these elements will work together for your customers. Read our documentation on building skills for Echo Show and Echo Spot to get started.

Voice-Enable Your Smart Home Cameras

Now, in addition to Echo Show, Fire Tablets and Fire TV, customers can also view live streams from their smart home cameras on Echo Spot. No changes are required to existing smart home skills. Learn more about Alexa smart home development.

Start Building Your Skills for Echo Spot Today

Check out the following resources as you start creating magical multimodal experiences for your customers:

• For general guidance on creating a skill, read Steps to Build a Custom Skill.
• To create a skill with Echo Show and Echo Spot support, read the Display Interface Reference.
• To include video in your Alexa skill, read the VideoApp Interface Reference.
• For best practices, read Best Practices for Echo Show and Echo Spot Skills.
• Learn more about Building Smart Home Camera Skills.
• Connect with the Alexa community on our developer forums.

Build a New Skill, Earn Developer Perks

Bring your big idea to life with Alexa and earn perks through our tiered rewards system. US developers, publish a skill in December and receive an Alexa developer hoodie. If 100 customers use your skill in its first 30 days in the Alexa Skills Store, you can also apply to receive a free Echo Dot to help you make Alexa even smarter. If you need inspiration, consider creating a holiday-themed skill to get into the holiday spirit. If you're not in the US, check out our promotions in the UK, Germany, and India. Learn more about our promotion and start building today.

Source: Alexa Developer Blog