Alexa Skills Kit Arrives In Italy, Spain

Amazon has announced that developers can start building voice experiences for customers in Italy and Spain using the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK).

ASK is a collection of self-service APIs and tools that make it fast and easy for developers to create new voice-driven capabilities for Alexa.

“Skills that developers create now will be available for customers when Alexa launches in Italy and Spain later this year,” wrote Noemie Cornu, an Amazon developer. “Commercial hardware manufacturers developing Alexa-enabled products for Italian and Spanish customers can request early access to the invite-only Alexa Voice Service developer preview. Along with the Echo family of devices, Sonos and Bose will be bringing Alexa-enabled products later this year.”

Developers will be able to create a skill in all language models, including English for the U.S., India, the U.K., Canada and Australia, as well as German, Japanese, French, and now Italian and Spanish.

For Alexa developers who want to engage new customers in Italy and Spain, they can enhance their existing skill by extending support for the new Italian and Spanish language models.

At the end of 2017, Amazon’s Alexa skills reportedly surpassed the 25,000 mark in the U.S. And last month, Amazon announced the availability of in-skill purchasing for Alexa skills in the country. Developers can make money by selling digital content that enhances an Alexa skill, such as game products, interactive stores and new features.

“When developers build delightful skills with compelling content, customers win,” wrote Alexa Developer Jeff Blankenburg in the blog post with the announcement. “If you offer premium content, a customer can now ask to shop, buy or agree to purchase suggestions made by your skill. Customers pay using Amazon’s simple voice purchasing flow using the payment options associated with their Amazon account. You define your premium offering and price, and we handle the voice-first purchasing flow. We also provide self-service tools to manage your in-skill products and optimize their sales performance over time.”