Apple-backed Matter smart home standard delayed until 2022
The Matter smart home connectivity standard, which is backed by Apple, Google, and other tech companies, has been delayed until 2022, according to a press release.
Matter standard delayed until 2022
Matter is an ambitious project seeking to unify smart home devices under a single protocol and was expected to launch later in 2021. However, it has been delayed until the second half of 2022 due to issues surrounding COVID-19 and implementing the universal standard.
The news about the delay was shared via a press release written by Torben Richardson, President and CEO of the Connectivity Standard Alliance.
"We're incredibly excited about the progress that's been made by the Matter Working Group and for the continued momentum of this unprecedented effort," Richardson says in the release. "Typically, creating a new standard takes many years of work to get to the stage Matter is at today."
"In May of this year, we saw a development path with first devices through certification by the end of the year in 2021," Richardson continues. "With the completion of several test events and forecasting, our members have updated the schedule to reflect a commitment to ensuring that the SDK, and related tools, are ready to meet the expectations of the market when launched and enable a large ecosystem of interoperable Matter products."
The updated timeline includes ongoing SDK and certification program development in the second half of 2021. By the first half of 2022, the SDK is expected to be released to members of the Matter group.
The first products certified for Matter will be revealed sometime in 2022.
Apple, Google, Amazon, and a host of other companies partnered to create a single, interoperable smart home standard. It started as Project Connected Home Over IP, or CHIP, and was later rebranded as Matter.
The new standard would enable cross-platform connectivity of previously incompatible smart home products. For example, Google's Nest line of products has never worked with HomeKit but soon will thanks to Matter.
Apple announced that HomeKit would integrate with Matter in iOS 15, so once the standard launches, HomeKit users will be able to take advantage. The introduction of Matter to HomeKit is also expected to bring a host of new product categories to the smart home platform.
Read on AppleInsider
Matter standard delayed until 2022
Matter is an ambitious project seeking to unify smart home devices under a single protocol and was expected to launch later in 2021. However, it has been delayed until the second half of 2022 due to issues surrounding COVID-19 and implementing the universal standard.
The news about the delay was shared via a press release written by Torben Richardson, President and CEO of the Connectivity Standard Alliance.
"We're incredibly excited about the progress that's been made by the Matter Working Group and for the continued momentum of this unprecedented effort," Richardson says in the release. "Typically, creating a new standard takes many years of work to get to the stage Matter is at today."
"In May of this year, we saw a development path with first devices through certification by the end of the year in 2021," Richardson continues. "With the completion of several test events and forecasting, our members have updated the schedule to reflect a commitment to ensuring that the SDK, and related tools, are ready to meet the expectations of the market when launched and enable a large ecosystem of interoperable Matter products."
The updated timeline includes ongoing SDK and certification program development in the second half of 2021. By the first half of 2022, the SDK is expected to be released to members of the Matter group.
The first products certified for Matter will be revealed sometime in 2022.
Apple, Google, Amazon, and a host of other companies partnered to create a single, interoperable smart home standard. It started as Project Connected Home Over IP, or CHIP, and was later rebranded as Matter.
The new standard would enable cross-platform connectivity of previously incompatible smart home products. For example, Google's Nest line of products has never worked with HomeKit but soon will thanks to Matter.
Apple announced that HomeKit would integrate with Matter in iOS 15, so once the standard launches, HomeKit users will be able to take advantage. The introduction of Matter to HomeKit is also expected to bring a host of new product categories to the smart home platform.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Was really looking forward to this soon. Oh well, there’s always next year.
Thread is a connection protocol between devices like WiFi and Bluetooth but better.
- This is all part & parcel to the general convergence of connectivity standards to build on the broad base of "internet of things" (IoT) technology. It makes a great deal of sense going forward, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you should be in a hurry to rip out an existing application that is serving your needs simply to move to the newer standard. I've been deep in the trenches with this kind of technology and standards development on the industrial side of things for 25+ years and all new standards require a certain amount of "settling time" or debounce to work through the early adoption kinks. If you're starting from scratch and are willing to absorb a few early adopter bumps, and you can build your system from available components, why not give it a try?
- Now ... if you're really talking at a level of "air gap" isolation, converging multiple protocols and riding everything on top of IP is at some level removing the air gap. This doesn't mean that these systems are less secure because there are a slew of security implementations like TLS and encryption that can be used with IP, but from a truly "air gap" standpoint you'd be more "air gapped" by sticking with the non-IP based connected home protocols like Z-Wave+ or Zigbee and making sure that you never provide any bridging, gateways, or direct connectivity between the non-IP protocols and the IP world, i.e., do not cross the streams.
I'm firmly entrenched in a non-IP based connected home solution that's been very reliable for me. I have no motivation to move to Matter/Thread or anything else anytime soon. Ask me again in 5 years and my answer may be very different. But here's the thing with "standards" - if they are truly "standards" they will be around for 10, 15, 20, ++ years if they are "standards worth hitching your wagon to." If they go away or radically change in a few years they aren't really standards. You shouldn't feel compelled or rushed to move to standards like you do with new features on a smartphone. Developing and getting widespread adoption of new standards is very time, effort, and cost intensive. If the standards are any good they'll still be around when you need them.