As we approach Google’s big event that’s set to take place on October 4th, there’s plenty of information coming to light about the products that the search giant is slated to be announcing. One of those products isn’t actually new. Google Home was announced at Google I/O in May, but it was not made available, nor given a price. Attendees were told that it would be available “later this year” and it looks like October 4th is when it’ll be launching. We’ve already seen the price for this Amazon Echo competitor, which is reportedly going to be $129. Now we’re hearing that the Google Home speaker will be compatible with Samsung’s SmartThings platform out-of-the-box.
If Google truly wants to compete with what Amazon has in the Echo (Amazon Tap and Echo Dot as well), then they need to support some of these smart home platforms. Amazon actually already supports the majority of the popular ones including SmartThings, Philips Hue and even Belkin’s WeMo platform. Many expected Google to support Nest, since they are a part of Alphabet after all. Now it looks like Samsung’s SmartThings will also be on the compatibility list. However, they may not be the only platform compatible at launch.
Being compatible with a smart home lineup is important, because Google Home has the ability to control these appliances and products from your voice. Much like Amazon’s Echo. You can tell the Google Assistant, which lives inside Google Home, to turn on the lights, or adjust the temperature in the room. Without needing to actually do anything yourself. Without that compatibility, Google Home is essentially useless for a lot of people. It would basically be a glorified Bluetooth speaker that you can ask what the score was in last night’s game.
While having support for SmartThings is going to be huge for Google Home, not everyone is invested in SmartThings. There are many others invested in Philips Hue and Belkin WeMo. Both of which are platforms that Google is going to need to support with Google Home, if they really want to take on the Amazon Echo. We’ll find out whether Google Home will support other platforms at launch, considering their October 4th event is only a few short days away now.