Amazon and Google want you to get a digital home assistant for Christmas - even if you didn't ask for one

The holidays have traditionally been an important time for the consumer tech world, with electronics makers placing big bets that shoppers will venture into Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales with open minds and open wallets. But for some manufacturers, this year might be more important than others. Products in categories that consumers aren't yet familiar with -- think digital home assistants, like Amazon's Echo -- tend to bank the most on a successful holiday season, according to retail analysts. But those encountering competition for the first time -- again, think Amazon's Echo -- face a double whammy. First, they need to convince the public their product is more than a novelty, then they convince the public to choose theirs and not its rivals.