Republic Wireless Has Built A Smart Speaker

Republic Wireless has announced that it has built a smart speaker.  It is the Sprint and T-Mobile MVNO's first entry into hardware.

Republic Wireless is calling its new smart speaker "Anywhere HQ."

The focus point of Anywhere HQ appears to be around phone calls and messaging.  The company says that it is "the first smart speaker built for smart communications."

Similar to using Google's assistant, users will be able to simply say "OK Republic, call Joe" to place a voice activated phone call that is synced with their phone number.  The device is said to have a smart assistant built in and is fully mobile with LTE capability.  Republic Wireless has not stated anything more about the capabilities of its smart assistant.

At the moment the smart speaker is entering Republic Wireless's testing labs and is not ready for public consumption.  The company has placed the following disclaimer on its website:

"This device has not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained."

Those interested in the Anywhere HQ, or helping to test it out can sign up for updates from Republic Wireless about the product.

At the moment the MVNO has not announced a release date or pricing for the Anywhere HQ.  Only pictures of the product have thus far been officially released.  From the pictures we can see that the smart speaker has a calling button complete with volume controls, a dial pad and a mute button.

Smart speakers have become a hot market with the Amazon Echo and Google Home currently dominating the market.  A smart speaker from Apple is also currently pending.  Whether Republic's Wireless's Anywhere HQ will be able to gain any traction in a market that will likely be dominated by Amazon, Google and Apple for years to come remains to be seen.