Home Automation Week in Review

Report Type: 
Week In Review
Overview

Wyze Doubles Down on Doorbells

Just about a year after launching the hardwired Wyze Video Doorbell, Wyze has now launched the $65 Video Doorbell Pro with wider viewing angles (150 x 150 to the original’s 88 x 120 field of view), dual-band Wi-Fi, and the option to be hardwired or powered by battery. For the latter scenario, the battery is rechargeable not removable. The new doorbell offers 14-day rolling cloud storage of 12-second videos with a five-minute cooldown (smart notifications and better storage requires a Wyze Cam Plus subscription). It comes bundled with a Wyze Chime (the doorbells does not work with existing chimes) and is available for pre-order now and is supposed to ship in December.

The NPD Take:

  • Wyze’s new doorbell is just the latest option for lower-priced doorbells, that started with Ring’s $60 Video Doorbell Wired that started selling last Fall and continued with Blink’s recently announced $50 Video Doorbell, which can be wired or run on AA batteries. Similar to what we saw occur in security cameras, price compression in this segment will ultimately put pressure on the premium brands to reconsider their pricing schemes.

Google Makes It Easier to Matter

At its Google Smart Home Developer Summit, the company announced new tools to help developers build devices that work with both Google Home and with Matter. The company also reiterated its commitment to supporting Matter and Thread across its ecosystem of compatible Nest and Android devices. As part of this commitment, Google has brought its entire smart home platform and developer program underneath the Google Home name. The company is creating a new Google Home Developer Center for its developer tools, including a new Google Home Device SDK for Matter. Google also announced Suggested Routines, which let manufacturers build routines in the Google Home app (triggered by voice, time, and device/sensor state) to interact with Nest devices, as well as other third-party devices linked to the app.  

The NPD Take:

  • This new Developer Center should help interested parties accelerate the adoption of Matter. The easier it is for developers to integrate their devices and applications with Google Home, the better the experience will be for everyone.
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