Frontier Introduces Multi-Ecosystem Voice Control to Smart Speakers

Frontier Smart Technologies, a pioneer in development platforms for wireless audio, digital radio and voice recognition solutions, announced a significant enhancement to its Minuet Smart Audio platform, which will be the first in the world to allow smart speakers, soundbars and AVRs to be simultaneously controlled by voice-enabled devices from Google, Amazon and Apple, helping manufacturers to differentiate, and not have to compete head on with 1st party devices.

Apple has confirmed that its latest mobile operating system iOS 11.4 is now available introducing the much anticipated AirPlay 2 updated technology, which enables Apple's own smart speaker to be configured as stereo pairs and to work in multi-room mode. AirPlay 2 will be also supported by several other audio manufacturers. Apple also confirmed that HomePod will be available in Canada, France and Germany, starting June 18.

The audio industry was once again shaken to its foundations by Apple's announcements at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2017. The product updates and sneak peeks made at this Apple Special Event, on June 5, 2017, were extremely rich in surprising technology revelations, even though its implications might not become clear until a few weeks or months later. After all, the WWDC conference - a developer's conference - is traditionally where Apple builds the foundations for what will be its underlying short-term/long-term strategies, serving mainly to motivate developers and strategic partners.