Wondering what you all make of this new working group with Google, Amazon, Apple and the ZigBee Alliance trying to develop smart home standards.

https://www.connectedhomeip.com

How will it impact us? How will it impact the pure play smart home companies (Control4, Savant, etc.?)

If we want to pretend that the combined engineering power of these groups cannot easily replicate or improve anything residential control companies can do for much less money then we are in for a rude awakening.

Retirement is looking better and better.

They're looking for more ways to record and steal everything you say and do. Kiss your privacy goodbye with these a**holes

I think it will work about as well as IEEE1394

One megalithic standard that is basically sold at manufacturing cost to the end user.
Because the end user is actually the product.

It will be much ballyhooed, have many bugs, get somewhat functional and then one of the companies will drop out.

Clients who paid us to install this stuff will be mad at us that it no longer works as advertised.

Not sure how long you have been in the game or if maybe you had forgotten. But this all has been tried before... many times in fact. By big companies like Microsoft and at least 1/2 dozen others. They throw millions of dollars at it, dedicate resources, and it always turns out the same. We go thru this cycle about every 5-7 years it seems.
I am curious to see what failure they come up with.

Different world then bud.... it amazes me how many guys still have their head in the sand. If you would have said there would be a network product, just 5 years ago that is mesh, is incredibly reliable and works really good at a $199 price point, would you believe it? No, a comment like this would of come up.

How about a doorbell that not only runs circles, but does flips and tricks around our industry door stations for a 1/4 of the price?

How about Lutron making a $50 dimmer that works just as good as our $200 switches? (They just look weird)

You guys need to wake up. I know this has been tried over and over again. But Apple failed pretty miserably with HomeKit. Combined those companies have trillions of dollars that they need to spend. This could be a doozy for the ones who haven’t adapted their business model.

Obviously the ultra high end market is still there. But when a 6 figure job now gets a ring elite, it’s time to be worried.

How about from a technical standpoint. Google has Thread while the ZigBee Alliance of course has ZigBee. What might the group be looking to do with regard these two competing technologies?

this.

+100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

So what happens when they DO get it right?

They could make HUGE inroads with the "Not my customers anyway" and then may well expand to the ones that ARE your customers. After all, there is a limit to those lazy people with loads of cash to blow on non essentials.

For argument sake, let's say that this does develop into some great encompassing protocol. And now everyone has a blueprint to build off of, for tons of IoT devices to all work with one another.
Let's say that everyone likes it because it is royalty free, covers all the bases, and has expandability built in. So all the manufacture adopt it. Kumbaya!
^that above alone, will never happen. Other investments are just to deep into competing standards. But let us continue on this argument sake.

You are betting that every Chinese cheap junk, will follow the protocol perfectly. Just like they follow the HDMI standard perfectly and don't deviate. Or a dozen other standards that the f^ers refuse to build things to perfect standards that they have right in front of them. And then cause problems for everyone, when it should just work.
^Yeah, this is going real well.

So we will have the manufacture that we know and use, that we are dealers for, that will be making the proper equipment to interface and control these things. We will sell these upscale products and install/program them and make money. Same as it has always been, just with different products and technology.
And the cheap bottom feeding customers, will still not pay for someone like us. And the people who want things done right, still will.

And thanks Rhea for running the chat off my screen!!!

Not worried at all. Know your customers and provide the correct products for them.

These companies will never get together and integrate their products with each other. Just look at Comcast, Verizon, DirecTV, Dish, and many other companies that provide TV service. NONE of one company's equipment will work with another's and they provide the exact same product, TV service.