The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Strategic decision · 2022–2026
Matter got Apple, Google, Amazon and Samsung to speak one smart-home language
Matter is an open, IP-based application layer all the major platforms agreed to, so a certified device works across ecosystems.
Connectivity Standards Alliance · Amazon · Apple · Google · Samsung SmartThings
the move
Smart-home devices would not talk to each other unless you bought into one vendor's app, hub and voice assistant, and almost every standard came from a company or a rival camp.
The Connectivity Standards Alliance, formerly the Zigbee Alliance, built Matter, previously Project CHIP, as a single application layer on top of IP networks. Crucially, the biggest competitors, Amazon, Apple, Google and Samsung, all joined and contributed their own technology.
That made the standard a treaty rather than a contest. A device maker that got Matter certified reached every big ecosystem at once, and the platform owners were committed to supporting it.
why it works
- All the major platforms committed, so one spec connected them all.
- It sits on standard IP, so it reuses Wi-Fi, Ethernet and Thread instead of inventing new radios.
- It is open source and royalty free, so nothing blocks a manufacturer from shipping it.
what transfers
When rival platforms each own a slice of a fragmented market, the winning standard is the one they all sign onto: pre-commitment, not technical superiority, makes adoption non-negotiable.
what came after
Matter 1.0 shipped in October 2022 with hundreds of sponsoring members and certified devices from Amazon, Apple, Google and Samsung. Adoption has been uneven, with complexity and slow rollouts tempering initial hype, but the multi-ecosystem promise it set has remained the industry's direction.
references
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