What do Amazon, Apple, and Google have in common? Well plenty, especially when it relates to the smart home industry. On December 18th another commonality was added. Together with the Zigbee Alliance those three companies announced the formation of an industry working group that will focus on connectivity standards that will increase compatibility among smart home products. Those standards will be developed with a constant eye on security.
This is a great progress for an industry that was being dominated by manufacturers who wanted to lock you into their ecosystem. That aggressive approach was driving consumers who wanted the best devices in the various product categories to use countless apps to control their homes. Today’s consumer can handle multiple apps with ease, but the lack of cross-compatibility simply tires even the most tech savvy users.
Much is still to be learned about how the working group will operate and how quickly it can bring benefits to manufacturers and consumers. Over time more information will become available, until then, what is important for the consumer to understand now?
Will current smart home products continue to work as they do today?
Yes, Amazon, Apple, Google and other manufacturers are committed to continue support for consumers and their existing products.
How will the Project benefit consumers?
One goal is to improve the consumer experience of trying to use smart home products that aren’t compatible with each other. The protocol being developed has the potential to be widely adopted across the industry. Success will mean that consumers can implement their devices of choice and that they will be able to control them on their preferred digital assistant platform.
