Verizon Is Definitely Coming Out With a Smart Display
A few weeks ago, FCC filings were uncovered that revealed Verizon had a smart display potentially in the works. Now we know it is actually happening, as the Verizon Smart Display was announced during Amazon’s Alexa Live event. The display will have an 8” screen, a camera with privacy shutter, 16GB of storage, and Alexa (obviously). It will also have a 4G LTE modem inside – which the carrier says will be used to ensure that the display can still communicate with Verizon’s back-end systems during an internet outage. In addition to troubleshooting outages, the display will also be able to help with setting up home internet services or getting tech support through video conferencing. Verizon says the display will launch in beta this fall for select Fios customers, with a more widespread launch next year. Pricing is not yet available.
The NPD Take:
- Though smart display sales are growing in sales, and growing faster than smart speakers are, we also have to consider the fact that they are a newer device type to market, which helps with those growth rates. We also have to consider that Amazon dominates this market, and Google and Facebook offer very solid alternatives. Verizon is going to find it a challenging go to fit into this space…unless they are planning to make these displays giveaways as a service contract incentive.
Most Echo Speakers Will Upgrade to Matter
Amazon says it will be upgrading almost every wired Echo speaker and display (via an over-the-air update) to support Matter – everything but the first-gen Echo, first-gen Echo Dot, and Echo Tap. What we don’t know is whether any of these devices will work as Matter hubs, like Google’s Nest Hub Max and Nest Hub 2nd gen will.
The NPD Take:
- Amazon is one of the many big companies driving the cross-platform open-source standard, so it comes as little surprise that most of their Echo devices will support Matter.