Hundreds of Muscovites Brave the First Snow for Yandex's New Smart Speaker
More than 1,000 people flocked to the Yandex tech company's flagship store in Moscow on Wednesday with hopes of becoming one of the first to get their hands on the new mini version of its “smart” speaker.
The Russian tech company had announced that anyone could exchange their old audio equipment for the new Yandex.Station Mini. As a result, neither rain nor snow could stop these tech fans from bringing their vintage audio devices in an effort to make their houses more modern and "smart."
Here's a look at those who came and what they brought:
The Russian tech company had announced that anyone could exchange their old audio equipment for the new Yandex.Station Mini. As a result, neither rain nor snow could stop these tech fans from bringing their vintage audio devices in an effort to make their houses more modern and "smart."
Here's a look at those who came and what they brought:
Between 1,000 and 2,000 people lined up at the Yandex store, with many forming a queue hours before the store opened at 10 a.m. Some even waited overnight.
Moskva News Agency
Customers could exchange any piece of audio equipment, including ones that no longer work, for Yandex’s new smart speaker.
Anton Novoderezhkin / TASS
People showed up with decades-old speakers, tape recorders, record players and other equipment.
Anton Novoderezhkin / TASS
Posts offering a place in line began to appear online. If people didn’t want to stand in line, they could pay anywhere from 500 rubles ($7.80) to 3,000 rubles ($46.90) for someone to do it for them.
Moskva News Agency
Yandex announced its Station.Mini in October. Similar to Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa, it is controlled by voice commands and gestures and can be used to play music and look up information, among other things.
Igor Ivanko / Moskva News Agency
The company said it plans to exchange about 1,000 of the "smart" speakers for old audio equipment.
Moskva News Agency
