Amazon 'holds key to the smart home'
Amazon's Echo device is generating increasing excitement from journalists and industry analysts, as shown by this Verge writeup. The author describes the Echo's 'plug and play' features, specifically the voice activation as "a big deal", adding "Amazon has quietly figured out that automation of a family home requires a voice communications hub, not a tablet on the wall..." Commenting on the sector as a whole, the author notes that thanks to the accuracy of the voice automation, "there's noting to stop home automation from finally going mainstream".&nbsp;
I love smart devices but my family hates them. And really, I can’t blame them. I’m happy to pull out my smartphone, launch an app, and navigate to the "ground floor" to shut off my entry lights. My family just wants a switch on the wall. Sure, they’re dullards, and dare I say, laggards — the kind of humans that might cause you to scream Luddites! at a LAN party. But they’re also right.

That's where Echo comes in

Fact is, most smart devices aren’t as easy and convenient to use as the dumb devices they try to replace. If you want to understand the folly of the Internet of Things then look no further than home automation. Take the Hue light bulb, for example. It’s far more costly and cumbersome to control than a traditional bulb and switch. For $200 you get three wireless bulbs that you can turn purple when it’s about to rain, amongst other tricks. But they don’t work when someone turns them off using the ol’ wall switch instead of the app. That’s where Echo comes in.

Chris Ziegler and I have been commiserating over our smart home woes for years. He recently fitted his entire home with Hue bulbs. Here’s what he had to say about living with Alexa on Wednesday:

"With the Echo, I quite literally don’t touch light switches anymore. 'Alexa, turn off the living room lights' gets the job done. It’s one of those exceedingly rare, legitimate Jetsons moments."

That’s a big deal. Voice control is faster than launching an app and more convenient than getting up to hit a switch. And best of all it works the same for all members of the house. Amazon has quietly figured out that automation of a family home requires a voice communications hub, not a tablet on the wall or a bunch of smartphones with apps that all have to be managed independently.

There's nothing to stop home automation from going mainstream

Google’s Nest and Apple HomeKit devices support voice commands via watches and smartphones — the most personal of all devices. Echo is shared. It's communal. Its far-field microphone and omni-directional speaker are designed for use by everyone in the same room — accepting commands from me just as readily as my six-year old. This small yet significant adjustment in thinking puts every smart home device within reach of the whole family. And with the biggest tech companies in the world now working on smart home solutions, there’s really nothing to stop home automation from finally going mainstream.

If only Echo was sold in Europe and worked natively with Sonos, Apple HomeKit, and Nest, then I’d be all set. Maybe next year.