Amazon opens Alexa voice assistant to all Bluetooth headphone makers

Amazon Alexa smart voice assistant seems to have paved its way to a new range of devices, especially hands-free communications. In its blog, Amazon has announced that Alexa Mobile Accessory Kit tool has been made available to developers.

First introduced back in January, the software development kit was designed in a way to bring Alexa to Bluetooth headphones, headsets, and wearables. Now, with the SDK opening up, that might soon come to reality. Qualcomm has also launched a smart headset that has Alexa integration designed to help audio device makers.

It seems that Amazon plans on making Alexa an adept voice assistant for hands-free devices so users can access the smart assistant while doing some outdoor activity, or when their hands are full.

The SDK initially had support for Bluetooth headphones from Bose, Jabra, and Sony, but now it has been positioned to support smartwatches, speakers, and other audio products. Alexa allows devices to communicate with its phone's app without requiring the device makers to build an app or Alexa skill of their own.

"For device makers, there is no need to develop and maintain a custom Alexa app. By leveraging the Amazon Alexa App that is readily available for Android and iOS, device makers accelerate product development, software integration, and testing time, while reducing product support costs," said Alfred Woo, product manager for Alexa Voice Services. "After launch, their products are automatically updated to include new Alexa features and functionality when they arrive in the Amazon Alexa App."

Back in August, Amazon introduced a slew of new features for Alexa. The new feature is called the "Whisper Mode." The new feature is currently being rolled out for the users in the United States.

Besides, Amazon has also filed a patent for a technology that will enable Alexa to analyze user's voice to determine whether they are sick or depressed. Amazon will then push products based on user's physical or emotional condition.

The patent titled "Voice-based determination of physical and emotional characteristics of users" was issued in October. The patent describes that the smart voice assistant will be able to detect "abnormal" physical or emotional conditions.