Apple, Amazon, Google partner to make smart home devices more compatible

Zigbee Alliance, whose members include IKEA and NXP Semiconductors among others, will also contribute to the project, titled "Connected Home over IP". The group aims to make it easier for device manufacturers to build products that are compatible with smart home and voice services such as Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant. Amazon had launched a similar initiative earlier this year that allows users to access Alexa, Microsoft Corp's Cortana and multiple other voice-controlled virtual assistant services from a single device. Read More...

FILE PHOTO: The Apple Inc. logo is seen hanging at the entrance to the Apple store on 5th Avenue in New York

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google are partnering to lay the groundwork for better compatibility among their smart home products, the companies said on Wednesday.

Zigbee Alliance, whose members include IKEA and NXP Semiconductors among others, will also contribute to the project, titled “Connected Home over IP”.

The group aims to make it easier for device manufacturers to build products that are compatible with smart home and voice services such as Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant.

Amazon had launched a similar initiative earlier this year that allows users to access Alexa, Microsoft Corp’s Cortana and multiple other voice-controlled virtual assistant services from a single device.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)