Editor at TechForge Media. Often sighted at global tech conferences with a coffee in one hand and laptop in the other. If it's geeky, I'm probably into it.











Amazon has announced the first batch of premium Alexa skills launching in the UK aiming to offer users a higher quality experience.

Earlier this month, Amazon announced ‘in-skill’ purchases were coming to the UK. Much like in-app purchases, developers can offer feature unlocks for one-time payments or subscriptions to access premium content for a limited time.

The ability enables developers to monetise their Alexa skills while subsequently incentivising them to create great experiences. We’ve been waiting to see what the initial experiences will offer.

Amazon invited a few partners to have early-access to in-skill purchases and have announced several launching today:

Daily Dose by Innovative Language Learning helps Alexa customers quickly learn new languages. With the Daily Dose skill, customers can learn 34 languages and start speaking from the first lesson. For £9.99/month customers can unlock additional content such as lesson breakdowns, lesson notes, grammar and more.

Beat the Intro by Musicplode Media Ltd is the ultimate music game for all music fans. The skill offers a free 3-song Daily Challenge and one free full-game (from selected packs) each day, but to unlock thousands of tracks and unlimited games, customers can subscribe to Beat the Intro Unlimited for £2.99 a month. Pick a pack by genre, decade, or our “specials" and see if you can identify the artist and title.

Burglar Deterrent by Hero Software uses realistic audio to deter potential intruders. Subscribe to Real-Time Mode to automatically adjust the activity level and volume whilst playing appropriate sounds for the current time of day or night. Real-Time mode can be enabled for £1.99/month.

Deal or No Deal by Vocala lets you feel what it's like to be a contestant on the hit TV show, Deal or No Deal, featuring Noel Edmonds. Pit your wits against the mysterious banker to try and win! For unlimited gameplay you can make a one-time purchase of £2.99.

Tenable by Vocala – Join Warwick Davis and Alexa in this fast-paced version of the Tenable TV Quiz Show. Buy a pack of 200 additional questions for £2.99 for a time-bound period of 90 days. Your purchase will also unlock additional game features such as the ability to pick a category and reveal the answers for each question.

The company aims to build on its premium Alexa skills library over time. Last month, Amazon also expanded its Alexa Developer Rewards program to new countries and categories.

Amazon’s efforts with Alexa appear to be working. As of February 2019, the company boasted of 80,000 skills available.

In-skill purchasing remains in preview, but IoT News will keep you posted on when it’s made available for all developers.

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