Alibaba Wants a Piece of the Smart Speaker Sector

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) - Get Report  is entering the fray of digital speaker assistants in a bid to compete with Amazon.com Inc.  (AMZN) - Get Report  .

The Chinese company on Wednesday, July 5, unveiled the "Tmall Genie X1", which will go for 499 renminbi ($73) for the first 1,000 people during a one-month trial. This is below the $180 price tag for Amazon's Echo and Apple Inc.'s   (AAPL) - Get Report  $349 HomePod.

The device will go on sale in China on Aug. 8 and will allow voice-controlled services from music streaming to newscasts and calendar booking. It will be powered by AliGenie and could eventually simplify shopping for the country's biggest online platform.