Matter’s delay means you’ll have to wait longer for some new smart home products

Image: Nanoleaf

We are not concerned about the delay of Matter, the new smart home interoperability standard. The three-month delay might be a good thing, because Eve Systems and Nanoleaf have been involved with developing the protocol that promises smart home nirvana since its earliest days.

There is more certainty in the industry, but smart home owners are still unsure about which products to buy and when. Chu has confirmed that the A19 smart light bulb and light strip won't work with the standard. Chu says that the devices will work with HomeKit and other platforms using a cloud-to-cloud integration.

Matter is the result of a collaboration by many of the industry. It is intended to allow devices from any manufacturer to work with devices from any other manufacturer. I reported last week that the standard was going to launch in June of this year, but the date has been changed to fall of 2022.

Since the beginning, the big smart home platforms have been bullish on Matter, but how that will manifest itself in their apps and other control devices has been murky. We know nothing about what Apple plans to do with Matter. If Matter had launched in the summer, would Apple have been ready?

Image: Nanoleaf

The smart home desperately needs a solid foundation in order to move beyond early adopters and into the mainstream, and Chu says that the major players being all-in on Matter is key to the success of the standard.

If we have to wait to get it right, so be it, it's the promise of Matter.

There is still a lot of work to be done on how Matter will be adopted by existing ecosystems.

The consumer is losing out while the manufacturers wait for the platforms to catch up. Many readers are holding off on buying smart home devices because they want to know it will work with Matter. We have been waiting for three years. Despite assurances from the CSA that it is working on bringing existing devices into the Matter fold, it seems increasingly likely that we will need to buy new devices if we want Matter- capable products.

Image: Nanoleaf

Chu told me that a couple of new lighting products will work with Matter. When Matter was supposed to launch last year, they were held back because of the delay in the standard's launch.

Do it once and do it right. Chu admits it has been challenging, but he would love to have recognized that revenue earlier.

A Thread border routers is a device that connects a Thread network to other networks, such as the internet. When it launches, Thread and Matter will go hand in hand. The company hasn't decided if it will upgrade the Shapes, Lines, and Elements lighting panels to Matter. They work with HomeKit, what would an upgrade do for the customer?

Eve has an existing business and the delay has had no impact on that. The company has been rolling out Thread-versions of all its products that are part of the first Matter specification, including a door and window sensor, a smart plug, and a water leak sensor. He says they will all be upgradeable to Matter.

Image: Eve Systems

Current Eve customers will have to spend more money if they want in on Matter, and any Eve product you have that isn't Thread-enabled won't. Eve is having to wait even longer to realize its expansion plans. Currently, its devices only work with HomeKit. Eve's potential market will be greatly expanded when Matter arrives.

The same is true for Belkin Wemo's customers. New Thread versions of its smart plug, light switch, and dimmer switch are coming this year, and it recently updated its Stage Scene Controller to support Matter. A number of these products are only compatible with HomeKit, but Belkin plans to upgrade them all to Matter.

There are some existing smart home devices that we have been told will be upgraded to Matter. It may be worth it if it means we get the smart home.