The smart home’s evolution has been nothing short of revolutionary – but the rapid innovations accompanying this seismic shift in living habits brought about a lot of messiness in the form of complicated, incompatible living systems. That’s where the value proposition of Matter emerges: amid a proliferation of competing smart home ecosystems, the dream of an interoperable system of shared data that enables devices to talk to each other was the dualistic holy grail, one that Matter aims to be the solution to.
As a bottom line, Matter is an open-source effort to ensure that, for example, a smart motion sensor from one smart home ecosystem can work with a smart switch from another, and not just because they’re all made by the same company – it’s to deliver true universal compatibility with products from different ecosystems. That universal smart home dream was hardly a pipe-dream before Matter, but it was if not unattainable, at least not without a lot of hopscotching over apps and compatibility charts – the Matter standard is a hero here, because it promises an end to the fragmentation and helps to ensure that users won’t need multiple apps to control all devices, and also helps to future-proof those devices that comply with Matter.
But Matter’s success hinges on the product and service manufacturers that have joined the project. The Connectivity Standards Alliance (the trade group organisation behind Matter) counts tech giants such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung among its patrons.
While enthusiasts dreaming of a seamlessly connected home will hear opportunity in the promise of universal inter-operability in matter, the big opportunity lies in the industry’s business case. Matter might not have arrived yet, but it is gaining steam, with device makers to pick from the likes of Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung and many others. Some estimates suggest a huge influx of Matter-compliant (that is, designed and certified to work with Matter) devices in the coming years, which should lead to a change in the trajectory of smart home mini-silos.
And the rollout has encompassed a range of devices, from kitchen appliances to the latest sensor tech. Full adoption remains a work in progress, but the reality is there are genuine benefits to both device releases and support infrastructure staying in step with each other. Ease of use, improved functionality and future-proofing – those are compelling arguments to keep on expanding Matter.
Let’s assume that Matter lives up to its promise of compatibility. Then not only will you be able to buy a smart device sometime in the future, but perhaps even sooner rather than later, you will be able to upgrade your HOME with a new smart device, without worrying whether or not your devices will be able to talk to each other. With Matter, managing an entire ecosystem (different devices) in a single app is more realistic, and it even improves ‘the consumer experience’.
With industry giants lining up behind Matter, and a host of new devices ready to hit shelves, its impact on smart homes is only just beginning. With its open-source ethos, the standard lends itself to further development and innovation. It seems poised to keep up with the pace of evolution in the realm of smart home tech.
The path to a fully Matter-compatible home still lies ahead of us – every new device brings us closer to that seamlessly connected smart home of tomorrow. Matter is already embraced by major brands, and with your help we can make it the global standard that unites all our smart home devices.
The Matter standard is nothing short of a paradigm shift in the world of smart homes – a shining star of interoperability in a sea of heterogeneity, as we stand at the doorstep of this brave new connected world. Finally, the prospect of a unified, interoperable and more usable smart home isn’t just a vision. It’s here. The smart home deck is about to be reshuffled for the better.
At its heart, though, home is a private domain; a residence of our own design, a place that enables us to create our own comfort and sense of security. With Matter, our homes can be made more intelligent, and whereby they better fulfil our needs, anticipating them before we even have to ask. Matter isn’t just a technology standard. It’s the way that the very nature of home, as a space in which we’re free to be ourselves, is preserved and enhanced as the world around us increasingly changes.
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