Here's why Amazon, Google, and Apple are fighting over voice-activated home devices (AMZN, GOOG, AAPL)

Amazon's voice-activated speaker Echo has been one of the surprise hit products of the year. Now, Google is out with its own voice-controlled speaker, and Apple is also reported to be in the works for its own device.

Voice-assistance technology may sound like a novelty, but recent data by Kleiner Perkins show why all the big tech companies are jumping on this new opportunity. As this chart by Statista shows, based on data from Kleiner Perkins, 65% of US smartphone owners already use voice assistance technology, up more than double from just two years ago. 

The primary reason for using voice-assistance technology is simply because of its convenience. The top three reasons for using the technology were all related to convenience, with 61% of the respondents saying it's useful when hands/vision is occupied.

Statista

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