The Google Home and Google Home Mini smart speakers are set to launch in India later this month, NDTV Gadgets reports, citing a recent notice that Redington India sent to its retail partners in the South Asian country. No specific price tags have yet been attached to the products which retail for the equivalent of Rs. 3,200 ($50) and Rs. 8,400 ($130) in the United States. Google is likely to be selling its gadgets online but the fact that Redington India is involved in the local launch of the Google Assistant-powered lineup also indicates both smart speakers will be available for purchase in a variety of brick-and-mortar stores throughout India.
So, there will be a big competition between Google and Amazon, and it is actually hard to establish which company will get the biggest share. Actually, Alexa still cannot understand or speak Hindi, and given that Google Assistant already supports this language, this may be an advantage for Google Home and Home Mini in India. However, according to the latest tests of the virtual assistant, the Hindi support is still not perfect. While the Media Accounts on Google Assistant already support some of the most important music streaming services in India (such as Saavn and Gaana), the vocal commands to interact with these services are still not available.
The Google Home Max is priced at $399 (25,900 Rs.) and will be available from December. Google is bundling 12-months of YouTube Music subscription with the Google Home.
The original Google Home is priced at $129 (8,300 Rs.). The Mini device supports HE-AAC • LC-AAC+ audio formats and comes with a 2-inch driver with dual 2-inch passive radiators.
The launch of the Google Home Mini comes at the same day Amazon launched its Echo range of smart speakers in India. Google is yet to disclose its plans to launch the speaker in India.
