PhonePe announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind celebrity voice feature on its SmartSpeakers in collaboration with actor Amitabh Bachchan. This new feature will allow PhonePe SmartSpeakers across India to validate customer payments in Bachchan’s distinct voice. The celebrity voice feature is currently available in Hindi and English, with plans to roll this out for other languages in the future.
The PhonePe SmartSpeaker was launched a year ago, and since then, four million devices are being used by merchant partners across 19,000 postal codes (covering over 90 percent of the country). The SmartSpeakers validate 100 Cr (1000 Mn) transactions across the country. The addition of a celebrity voice, featuring Bachchan, will enhance the payment experience for both merchants and customers, making it more interactive.
Vivek Lohcheb, head of offline business at PhonePe said, “We are delighted to launch a unique celebrity voice feature for our SmartSpeaker for merchant partners across India. Bachchan’s voice has an instant and universal recall, and it resonates with millions of Indians across the country. Being a popular Indian app used by one in four Indians, we believe this collaboration will further elevate the popularity of the PhonePe SmartSpeaker for merchants and customers alike.”
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how merchants can enable this new feature from their PhonePe for Business app.
1) Open the PhonePe for Business App
2) Go to the SmartSpeaker section on the home screen
3) Under ‘My SmartSpeaker’, click on ‘SmartSpeaker Voice’
4) Choose Shri. Amitabh Bachchan’s voice in the preferred language
5) Click on ‘Confirm’ to activate the voice
6) Device gets rebooted with the updated language in Mr. Bachchan’s voice within a few hours
PhonePe SmartSpeakers provide voice payment notifications in multiple Indian languages, with up to four days of battery life, data connectivity, a battery level LED indicator for ease of use, audio alerts for low battery levels, and a replay button for the last transaction.