Apple, Google and Amazon collaborate on standard for even smarter devices

Apple, Google, Amazon and some other tech companies have started a remarkable partnership. The intention is that their smart home products will be better coordinated with each other in the future.

Smart devices with communication problems

More and more smart home devices are coming onto the market and although those products are called ‘smart’, they all speak very much their own language. That’s why products from one brand often don’t work seamlessly with those from another brand. Now it often works best if you stick to one brand, otherwise communication problems can arise. That has to change and that is why there is now the Connected Home over IP (short: CHIP) working group. Apple, Google, Amazon and the Zigbee Alliance work together on a common standard. The Zigbee Alliance includes Ikea, Samsung and Signify (known for the Philips Hue lamps).

Benefit for consumers and manufacturers

The aim of the working group is to improve the consumer experience. Apple puts it this way: “The project stems from a common belief that smart home devices should work securely, reliably and seamlessly.” As a consumer, you can rest assured that you can control the smart devices you purchase with your preferred system.

The advantage for developers is that it makes it easier to create a product that works with Amazon Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant and other smart assistants. The largest tech companies are therefore already involved and more cooperation partners are still being sought. It is an open standard, so anyone can join.

The standard should become active by the end of 2020. Incidentally, this has no consequences for the current smart devices that support HomeKit, for example: they continue to work.

Source: Project Connected Home over IP and Apple Newsroom.