Advertisement

Race for the ‘smart home’ rising between Apple, Amazon and Google

Price in the contest is the connected household

Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
The Amazon Echo, a voice-controlled virtual assistant, is seen at its product launch for Britain and Germany in London. Photo: Reuters

In less than a year, Amazon’s combination of the Echo speaker system and the Alexa voice-controlled digital assistant has come close to delivering on the elusive promise of easy-to-use technology that can control gadgets in the home with a few spoken words.

Yet Amazon.com’s surprise success sets up a long-term battle with Apple and Alphabet’s Google for primacy in the connected household. And the contours of that competition are following a classic tech industry dynamic.

Amazon is pursuing an open-systems approach that allows quick development of many features, while Apple is taking a slower route, asserting more control over the technology in order to assure security and ease-of-use.

Buddy, the companion robot from Blue Frog, on display on the showroom floor at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The robot provides entertainment, security, elderly care and a smart home. Photo: AFP
Buddy, the companion robot from Blue Frog, on display on the showroom floor at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The robot provides entertainment, security, elderly care and a smart home. Photo: AFP

The strategic importance of the “connected home” niche looms large: Amazon wants a way to own its customer interactions -mainly shopping online - without an Apple phone or a Google Web browser as an intermediary.

Apple needs to keep the iPhone at the centre of customers’ lives, and has built a whole home automation architecture, called Homekit, into its smartphone.

Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2-3x faster
1.1x
220 WPM
Slow
Normal
Fast
1.1x