Amazon Being On The Board Of The Zigbee Alliance Means They May Have A Huge Say On The Future Of Smart Devices
Amazon now is part of the Zigbee Alliance Board which supervises the implementation of the Zigbee wireless protocol. Zigbee is not as popular as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth but is great for low-power devices. It can also travel longer distances and is perfect for smart devices like a light switch.
Amazon’s Echo has Zigbee support which lets the speaker connect to a variety of smart home gadgets and sensors directly. Amazon’s presence on the board suggests we are likely to see good use of the protocol in the future.
Getting on the board means becoming one of the Alliance’s highest-paying members — $75,000 per year — and it gives those companies an important advantage: they’re able to “drive specification development, requirements, and test plans.”
Other companies on the board are Samsung-owned SmartThings, Philips Hue smart lights’ Signify, and Xfinity Home security solution’s Comcast. If Amazon is financially committed, it looks like Amazon will have a major say in Zigbee’s future.
Zigbee’s major competition is from Z-Wave. If it grows in popularity, Amazon and other companies might have to deal with the expensive parts.
Source: https://www.theverge.com
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