It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) are competing head-to-head to acquire a competitive edge over each other in the smart home market. The iPhone maker first introduced its HomeKit framework in 2014, however, the company failed to entice many users to buy its HomeKit framework due to its stringent requirements.
Meanwhile, Amazon entered in the smart homemaker in 2015 and its Alexa-enabled speakers, dubbed as Amazon Echo, muster much fame as it already supports a wide range of products. Hence, it would be right to say that both tech titans are using opposing strategy while developing their smart home offering. For instance, Apple prefers to maintain its strict control on its HomeKit platform as it focuses more towards the simplicity and security of the platform.
It is worth mentioning that those who want to create a HomeKit product are required to use a particular Homekit chip, alongside special Bluetooth and Wifi chips. In contrast, making smart home products that work with Amazon’s Alexa-enabled devices are much simpler and faster. Manufacturers only need to write a specific code and send to the company to review it. The online retail giant, Amazon, doesn’t require its manufacturers to integrate any special chips in their smart home products.
Moreover, it was recently reported that the online retail giant managed to sell approximately 10 million Alexa-enabled devices over the last holiday season. Other tech mammoths, such as Google, have not revealed the sales figure of their Home speaker yet. Adding to that, the iPhone maker also refused to reveal anything and said that it is working on its own voice-activated speakers.
The recent moves made by the tech giants in the smart home industry indicate that the competition between the companies is heating up. In any case, experts believe that the tech titans should focus on offering more innovative and new features in its products as the smart home industry is still in infancy stage.
