China is expected to bust into the smart home market to the tune of around $22 billion per year by as soon as 2018, but with product names like LingLong DingDong - I think they're going to have some fun while doing it.
LingLong, the company behind the DingDong, has made an Amazon Echo-like device that costs $118 - and it's capable of playing music, audiobooks, managing schedules, and more - just like the Amazon Echo. In order to wake the device, you'll have to say one of three commands:
- DingDong DingDong
- Xiaowei Xiaowei
- BaiLing BaiLing
LingLong has said that most people are using the DingDong to play music from their library, which spans 3 million songs. LingLong has been working on the DingDong for a while, so it's not a direct knockoff of the Echo, but LingLong's Senior Marketing Manager Charlie Liu did state that Amazon Echo did have an influence in some of their decision-making.