We have some details on the new smart home alliance (now called Matter).

Stacey Higginbotham:

With Matter, consumers won’t have to research if their Nest cameras will work with their Schlage locks or if their HomeKit compatible sensors will also work with Alexa, for example. Developers won’t have to keep up with multiple ecosystems and integrations. Initially, this will only work across a limited number of devices, but those devices include lighting, blinds, HVAC, TVs, access controls, safety & security products, access points, smart home controllers, and bridges.

I’m half surprised it took this long for these companies to do this, and half surprised in this era of intense competition that this happened at all. Either way, it is a win for consumers. All the big players are involved (even Phillips Hue!)

That said, I bet it is still at least another few years before smart home technology goes truely mainstream, and I hope that before it does this alliance can put some more privacy protections in place. Companies selling cheap smart home tech on Amazon aren’t really motivated to invest in privacy without some external pressure.