Amazon is taking a measured yet confident approach to Matter – and that’s a good thing
>
How many times in history can you remember a room full of competing tech companies all sitting in the same room with one common goal: not to compete, but to collaborate for something better? Now imagine that among these companies are megalithic hulking giants among men, and you just imagined the room we were in earlier this week.
Amazon, along with other industry giants including Google, Samsung and Apple, has committed itself to the future of smart homes by joining the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), a partnership of more than 550 companies working together for the cause.
The result is Matter, a new standard, which was officially launched at an event in Amsterdam on 3 November. Matter 1.0 offers a level of interoperability we’ve only dreamed of until now and is the real starting point of smart homes getting really smart. .
It is the beginning of a long road; as of now, only certain product categories are Matter compatible; these include lighting and electrical, HVAC controls, controllers and bridges, TVs and media appliances, blinds and blinds, security sensors and door locks. The CSA expects to expand into more product areas in 2023, including security cameras and robotic vacuum cleaners.
Amazon, of course, is only growing in its smart home fame, and with the recent acquisition of iRobot, its portfolio is going from strength to strength. Today, Alexa supports more than 30,000 devices in the Works with Alexa program, but this number will grow significantly with the launch of Matter.
Not a jump, but a step in the right direction
In Amazon’s keynote address at the event, Marja Koopmans, director of Smart Home and Health for Amazon, discussed the company’s plans for Matter and why it is so important to them. Amazon plans to bring Matter support to “more than 100 million devices” across 30 Echo and eero devices in what Koopmans called a “hugely unprecedented venture.”
Later, in conversation with Chris Decenzo, Amazon’s technical lead for Matter and chairman of the Matter steering committee, he said that in addition to the critical opportunity for customers to have more choice in terms of what will work interoperably in their smart home, Matter should also increase the speed of bringing new products to market.
“Device makers can build a product and not have to invest in six different versions of it, six different types of hardware because of all the different protocols out there. It reduces the work for developers.”
On the compatibility front, Koopmans announced a phased approach with compatibility arriving in December on Alexa and several generations of Eero routers and Echo smart speakers – but only for plugs, switches and bulbs, and only on Android. This supports connections to currently Matter-compatible devices via Wi-Fi only. Further Echo and eero devices and device types are on the roadmap for early 2023.
So where are users on iOS and Thread networks? Well, support for this is coming early next year, and for good reason. We spoke to Decenzo to find out more.
Slow and steady wins the race
One of the main talking points of the whole event is that Matter is a journey, and we’re just at the beginning of it – which is great, but Decenzo says the customer experience is “absolutely crucial” – which is why they are. take it slow.
First we have the talk about Wi-Fi vs. Thread tackled, and why Amazon stuck with Wi-Fi in the first phase of the rollout. The process of tuning credentials and APIs takes time, and integrating all the different companies that host thread boundary routers isn’t easy. Decenzo uses the example that rushing Thread compatibility could lead to four Thread networks instead of one and create “absolute customer disaster”. “That led us to decide to wait with the thread stuff until we’ve had enough of the integrated industry,” he explains.
It’s a slightly different story with Android versus iOS, some of which simply come down to timing. Apple only recently announced its iOS requirements for Matter, which include brand new APIs that have only just been released in Xcode 14. Unfortunately, this means developers haven’t had enough time yet to make sure the integration works.
Decenzo says that while Amazon is happy with the progress, customer focus remains key. “It won’t be long before customers have to wait, but unfortunately we can’t be that aggressive on that.”
Analysis: no risk, no reward
While many of the founding companies attending CSA’s Matter launch event have serious interests in the new standard, Amazon is in an interesting position.
With multiple hats including supplier and manufacturer, Amazon’s position at the front and center of this collaborative approach is somewhat of a surprise. After all, this kind of off-the-shelf could take consumers outside the Amazon Alexa ecosystem, create more competition, and even create risk in the development of new smart products — and given Amazon’s product range and its recent acquisition of iRobot, ‘d expect more risk adversity.
However, speaking with Decenzo brought the company’s interest in Matter into the picture.
For Decenzo, who sits among several business units that may have conflicting interests around Matter, it has been a blessing for Amazon to be able to speak as both a device maker and a service provider, earning it “a lot of trust” with the other members of the standard. .
On the one hand, Amazon understood the priorities of device makers. “A lot of device manufacturers want to differentiate themselves — they don’t want to have a middleman blocking them from the customer and dictating what features they can have.”
However, as a service provider, Decenzo explains that Amazon is more aligned with the benefits of standardization, especially when it comes to security and privacy. He calls this the reason Amazon could “help strike the right balance.”
So, what about the risk created by increased competition? Decenzo says there were more benefits to growing smart homes and product availability overall. “Sometimes you have to look around the corner and see an opportunity to standardize and trust that your customers will love the experience they get with your product. They’ll still love that, even if you know things are completely open.
“We’ve always been interested in open standards, so we’ve embraced them, and we’re glad we’ve been able to bring in other companies that haven’t always been on it.”
The measured approach taken by Amazon and the hundreds of companies that make up the CSA now and in the future speaks to a very unique movement in the tech space — one that we hope other industries can learn from. We’ll keep our eyes peeled as Matter 1.0 gains momentum in 2023.