Tech giants have been trying to figure out the world of Internet-connected home gadgets — everything from light bulbs to door locks to thermostats. The market is still early, but seems to hold enough promise that companies like Apple AAPL and Google have been trying to figure out angles into it with their own ecosystems.
But lately, Amazon is taking up more and more of this conversation, according to a new study from market researcher firm Argus Insights. Amazon Echo, a $180 tube-shaped speaker that users can command with their voice, has become one of the most popular platforms for these kind of devices.
Based on 576,000 smart home reviews gathered since January 2015, Amazon Echo has become the most discussed smart home ecosystems. Apple’s HomeKit program follows in close second. The ”Works with Nest” program for third-party integrations with Alphabet-owned Nest products is in third place.
Echo incorporates Amazon’s voice-based intelligent assistant, Alexa, and provides a sort of “ambient intelligence” that makes it easy to interact and control devices around the home. It’s a lot simpler than most smart home devices that require the user to pull out their smartphone, unlock their phone and find the app to do something as simple as turning on a light.
Want to publish your own articles on DistilINFO Publications?
Send us an email, we will get in touch with you.
“Amazon is really the first one to nail far-field voice that’s a non-trivial problem,” said Stuart Lombard, president and CEO of Ecobee, the maker of a WiFi-connected thermostat. “We see voice being a much bigger way of interacting with home devices.”
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, many smart home gadget makers seemed to be putting their weight behind integrations with the Echo. Large home security companies Vivint and Alarm.com announced Echo integrations.
Amazon has also been doing its own work in integrating new smart home device categories directly into Echo. Earlier this month, Amazon added thermostats as device category that can be directly integrated with Echo. This is done through an API Amazon calls Alexa Connected Home Skills. That means users can say things like “Alexa, turn the heat to 74.”
The thermostat is only the second smart home device category Amazon has integrated with Echo directly. Amazon first smart home device integration began with lighting systems last October. There are clearly more of these integrations on their way.
Of course, the smart home is far from the Echo’s only purpose. Uber and Spotify are finding their way onto the device. For any device or service needing robust natural language processing in the home, Echo has become a central player.
The Argus survey is hardly conclusive in who “wins” the smart home ecosystem, as it is simply tracking a small portion of consumer sentiment. But it is showing the strong momentum in Amazon’s approach. Apple’s HomeKit lets devices sync up in iOS and uses the company’s voice-based intelligent personal assistant, Siri. But for the most, the experience still all centers around the iPhone.
What smart home device makers likely need to do is incorporate voice-based interactions into their own devices in way that provides that “ambient intelligence” experience that Echo offers. Smartphone-controlled light bulbs and thermostats were fun at first. Now it all just feels like a drag.
Date: February 29, 2016