Amazon Echo devices are now available in India across offline retail outlets without an invite

Having **launched its Echo range** speakers in India back in October, Amazon finally seems to have opened up to the idea of selling the speakers through offline retailers alongside its online sales. Amazon is also doing away with its invite system which means that the speaker is now open to everyone to purchase. [caption id=“attachment_3936843” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Amazon Echo and Echo Dot. Image: Amazon[/caption] In a press release, **Amazon** stated that all three Echo speakers — the Echo Dot, Echo and Echo Plus will be available over more than 350 retail outlets, spread across 20 cities in the country. The list of retail outlets here includes popular offline megastores such as Croma, Reliance, Vijay Sales and Crossword. For the uninitiated, Amazon’s Echo smart speaker range is powered by the company’s virtual assistant Alexa that allows the speakers to be controlled by the user’s voice. Alexa is capable of a range of activities (or skills) including playing music, turning the lights on and off, providing live sports scores, checking the weather etc. The speakers also allow Alexa-to-Alexa calling and messaging. In addition to Alexa’s basic abilities, users can also go ahead and place shopping orders on Amazon.in and perform over 12,000 Alexa skill-based actions. Talking about the move to launch across offline platforms, Jayshree Gururaj, Director - Amazon Devices said,“We are grateful to the customers across India who have helped create the Alexa experience during the invite phase. We are excited to make Alexa and our Echo devices available for all customers, and we can’t wait to hear about their experiences.” As far as their prices are concerned, the Echo Dot is priced at Rs 4,499, the Echo at Rs 9,999 and the Echo Plus for Rs 14,999.