Sky Plans a New Offering
Sky, the British satellite broadcaster, has launched a new offering called Sky Protect, which combines home insurance and smart home technology. Sky Protect is a unique offering that aims to address some of the pain points in insurance. Customers who sign up for the insurance are provided with a box of smart home devices, including a video doorbell, indoor camera, motion sensor, two contact sensors, and three leak detectors, all designed to bring peace of mind to the user. Sky adds that the package of hardware will sell for £250 ($314).
The Circana Take:
- This is another example of the diversification of the smart home market. In its home markets, Sky holds considerable market share and can leverage its subscriber base to sell in new services. However, in a crowded market of providers, new entrants must stand out from the competition- bundling home insurance with smart devices is a unique way to grow interest in the category.
Amazon Upgrades to Matter
Amazon has now switched on Matter in over 100 million Echo smart speakers and the Alexa iOS app now works with Matter. Previously, Amazon had only activated Matter-over-WiFi on some of its smart speakers. Last week, Amazon also flipped the Matter switch on all its second-gen smart speakers — the Echo Plus, Echo Dot, and Echo — bringing the total number of Amazon Alexa Matter controllers to 20.
The Circana Take:
- As one of the most widely owned home automation products, Alexa devices are crucial to the growth of Matter. The update to such a large number of connected devices will increase the installed base of Matter and increase awareness for the specification.