Sources: Google is building a smart screen competitor to Amazon's Echo Show, codenamed “Manhattan”, to launch in late 2017 or early 2018
Multiple sources tell TechCrunch that Google is building a tabletop smart screen for video calling and more that will compete with Amazon's Echo Show.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google’s assistant-hardware push began with the Google Home speaker announcement, following reports that it was developing an Echo rival. Manhattan extends that competitive line from voice-only interaction to a tabletop display for calling and other visual tasks.
The subsequent report that Google was preparing a smart speaker with a display supports the significance of this move: screens were becoming a distinct front in the Google–Amazon home-device contest.
First-order effects
- Google’s reported hardware roadmap expands beyond Google Home-style speakers into a screen-based device, placing video calling alongside voice assistance.
- Amazon’s Echo Show gains a named prospective rival from Google in the tabletop smart-display category.
Second-order effects
- Amazon and Google are pushed toward feature competition around the shared functions identified here—voice assistance, video calling, and on-screen home use—rather than competing only on speaker capability.
- Google’s smart-speaker effort must accommodate a display-equipped product tier, a direction reflected in later coverage of its planned screen-bearing speaker.
Third-order effects
- If both companies continue extending assistants into displays, the home assistant market shifts from standalone speakers toward persistent visual interfaces for communication and control.
- Amazon’s later reported work on a wall-mounted Echo with a large touchscreen suggests the competition may broaden from tabletop devices to more fixed smart-home control surfaces.
The trend: Voice-assistant vendors are turning home speakers into screen-equipped ambient interfaces, with video and visual control becoming part of the platform battle.