Google this morning posted a story on its Keyword Blog that highlights the ongoing growth of its AI helper, Google Assistant. According to the company, the Assistant now works with “every major device brand” in the U.S., meaning that it can connect with more than 5,000 smart home devices, up from 1,500 in January.
And
For home automation, Apple’s solution is HomeKit and Siri. Although not an exact comparison due to potentially missing products, Apple’s website has a list of HomeKit-compatible smart home products that reaches to about 200 as of writing, with some yet to launch.
The number of devices the technology can connect with is definitely important, but a lot of people are also concerned about privacy. I don’t think there is any doubt that Apple values customer privacy more than any other technology company, but a lot of the success of home products will be determined by how much the consumer actually cares about privacy versus features.
Yep. And how many of those 5,000 devices themselves have adequate safeguards?
The other caveat here is that some, perhaps many, of those 5000 devices will be functional duplicates of one another. For example, power outlet adapters – if an assistant works with 20 different makes, who cares? It’s one function, controlling the power from an outlet. Customers will buy one vendor’s product and the rest don’t matter to them.
A lot of people care about privacy… but very few seem to connect that with their choice of ecosystems in this case, unfortunately.