After Google and Apple have already provided detailed information about matter, another big player on the smart home market, Amazon, is now following. During its own developer conference Alexa Life, the company announced a first list of its own devices that will be compatible with matter. These include Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Studio, Echo Plus, Echo Show and Echo Flex.
Amazon has not yet commented on the respective device generations. However, it was indicated that older models will also get support for matter. During the event and the presentation there were a few inconsistencies, so there are probably some details that need to be clarified.
Matter will be installed on the Echo devices via a software update, that’s for sure. This will give Alexa access to matter devices. In order for communication to run locally via the home network, as it‘s desired with matter, developers are given the option of adding JavaScript code to their own Alexa Skills. Subsequently, the Echos then use a local connection instead of forwarding the commands to Amazon Web Service (AWS) via Internet. As long as Amazon does not introduce its own control center with Thread, matter products will still have to be accessible via WLAN, LAN or a bridge like the one from Philips Hue.