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On October 10th, ByteDance released its first AI agent earphones Ola Friend. This is an open-ear earphone, weighing only 6.6 grams per side. These earphones are integrated with ByteDance’s Doubao large model and combined with the Doubao app. After wearing the earphones, users can wake up Doubao through voice commands without having to open their phones for conversation.
Different from traditional AI earphones, Ola Friend does not need to communicate through typing on a phone, but can start a conversation by speaking. The person in charge of Doubao told the reporter that this earphone is an exploration and attempt of Doubao in the AI scene, and various capabilities of Doubao will continue to be iterated in the future to provide assistance for users in various life scenarios.
According to information found on the product homepage by reporters, Ola Friend can provide online travel consultation, English tutoring, music DJ, and other functions. According to e-commerce platform information, Ola Friend currently comes in four color options: Light Feather White, Thin Wing Black, Dream Purple, and Flowing Silver; as well as two different styles of charging cases. This earphone will officially go on sale on October 17th at a price of 1199 yuan. The AI function of Ola Friend will continue to be updated after its release.
From the perspective of sales, the momentum of this headset seems quite low-key at present. As of 12 o’clock noon, the pre-sale volume of Ola Friend’s flagship store on Douyin is 80 units, and the sales volume on JD.com and Taobao has not exceeded one hundred either.
As a technology giant with long-term layout in AI, ByteDance’s official entry into AI hardware has attracted widespread attention.
In May of this year, ByteDance was exposed to have acquired Chinese headphone manufacturer Oladance for approximately 50 million US dollars. Oladance was established in 2019 and positioned as an innovative consumer electronics technology company. It had previously introduced the OWS (Open Wearable Sound) patented technology and launched the world’s first OWS open-ear headphones.
SEE ALSO: ByteDance Completes Acquisition of Oladance
However, behind this AI earphone, the more important thing is the ByteDance’s self-developed Doubao large model. Third-party data shows that the monthly active users of Doubao app built on the Doubao large model have reached 27.52 million in the first half of this year, which is 2.43 times that of the second place and has become the most active AIGC (Generative Artificial Intelligence) application product in China.
Tan Dai, President of Volcano Engine to which Doubao belongs, said in an interview that currently AI is still in its investment stage and revenue is far from covering costs. However, the company is very confident about the future and believes that AI will have a profound impact on many industries in the long run. ‘As for what form super applications will take, we can only leave it to time. Just like at the beginning of mobile internet development there was no Douyin, Didi, Meituan or Kuaishou; no one can predict who will emerge in future.’
Before this, ByteDance had tried to layout in the hardware field several times, successively trying out hardware products such as smartphones, educational hardware, VR, etc., but the final results were not ideal. In August 2021, ByteDance spent several billion yuan acquiring PICO, the domestic manufacturer with the highest VR (virtual reality) shipment volume. However, in 2023, along with the decline of the VR trend, ByteDance is reconsidering PICO’s strategic positioning. Subsequently, PICO issued an internal notice planning to adjust its organizational structure to better focus on long-term exploration and breakthroughs in hardware and core technology. There will be significant personnel adjustments within teams related to markets, games, videos.
AI hardware has become a hot spot for various major technology companies to compete in layout. In addition to ByteDance, Meituan is also exploring the possibility of combining AI and hardware, developing an AI business named ‘Qiaoyu,’ and reaching cooperation with the children’s wearable device manufacturer ‘Little Genius.’ Its self-developed ‘Qiaoyu Le Companion’ AI voice interactive app will be loaded on the Xiao Genius Z10 smartwatch.
In May last year, Baidu‘s Xiaodu launched its first AI learning phone ‘Qinghe.’ After a year, Xiaodu introduced a new generation of learning machine product Z30. This is the world’s first learning machine based on Wenxin large model capability. At this year’s iFlytek headphone new product launch event, iFlytek released three AI headphones, further enhancing its presence in AI office.
In addition to various AI-empowered products, AI+ smartphones are also an important trend in the field of AI hardware. According to market research firm IDC’s forecast, the global shipment of AI smartphones this year will reach 170 million units, accounting for about 15% of the total smartphone shipments. The shipment volume of AI smartphones in the Chinese market is expected to be 37 million units, and by 2027, this number is expected to soar to 150 million units with a market share exceeding 50%.
The industry is very optimistic about the combination of AI and edge hardware. “Although there are still technical challenges such as large parameters, hardware storage and computational limitations when deploying large models at the edge, rapid technological innovations bring development opportunities to terminal devices.”
SEE ALSO: ByteDance Teases Smart Hardware ‘Ola Friend’, Likely Smart Earbuds