Meet Alexa, Your New Roommate
Amazon has announced Alexa for Residential, enabling rental properties to include Amazon devices (and thus, Alexa herself) in units from day one that renters move in – giving residents access to Alexa to control enabled lights, thermostat, locks, blinds, etc. – no setup required. By linking their Amazon accounts to the speaker, residents will also be able to listen to their music playlists, shop on Amazon, and access all of Alexa’s other features. Even before renters move in, Alexa will be there via self-guided tours to help show off the smart features of vacant units. Amazon has already partnered with a handful of solution providers to assist properties with the implementation and management.
The NPD Take:
- Amazon had already struck some partnerships with homebuilders (like Lennar) to start new homes smart, from the ground up. Rentals are an obvious choice for expansion – broadening the Alexa ecosystem to an even wider audience…and giving rental properties a new way to attract potential residents who are interested in smart home living.
August/Yale and Philips Team Up, While Lutron and Ring Form Another
August and Yale smart locks will soon integrate with Philips Hue lighting to make a smarter front door experience – setting Hue lights to automatically turn on and August or Yale locks to automatically lock when you arrive home or when you leave, as well as having lights turn on to welcome guests who have been granted temporary access to your home via the smart lock. Meanwhile, Lutron’s smart lighting will soon integrate with Ring’s video doorbells and security cameras – setting Lutron lights to turn on when motion is detected outside or when the Ring doorbell rings.
The NPD Take:
- Door locks, door bells, and lights play an essential role in arriving and leaving home, and it makes complete sense to sync across these product types (and brands) to provide more complete and streamlined home automation. Of course, this integration happens within the August, Yale Access, and/or Philips Hue app for one and within the Lutron app for the other – and the need may already have been obviated by similar automations set up via smart speakers or displays and Alexa, Google Assistant, or HomeKit. As their collection of smart home devices grows, consumers increasingly prefer to use voice commands over apps for smart home control.
Tile Rolls Out Insurance…For a Premium
Item tracker company Tile has introduced a $100 per year insurance policy for lost items. The Premium Protect subscription service will reimburse you up to $1,000 per year if you are unable to locate a lost item with your Tile Tracker (btw, the company says that 90% of items marked as lost are able to found through the Tile network, so this would be most suitable for that other 10% that cannot be found).
The NPD Take:
- This is Tile’s second subscription service – it’s first being a $30 per year plan that offers alerts, free battery replacements, and extended location history. The $100 fee seems excessive (unless the item the tracker is attached to is a very prized possession), but with Apple supposedly planning to launch its own version of item trackers (AirTags), Tile needs to do anything it can to tip the playing field in its favor.