Amazon's Echo able to control SmartThings devices soon

Amazon’s Echo, a new kind of home device, is a voice-controlled, internet-connected speaker that can be used for web searches, news and weather updates, and other personal-assistant applications. Now, it is turning into a platform-agnostic home control system. The Echo originally shipped with the ability to interface with WeMo and Wink, and now SmartThings has announced that it will be able to control its products as well.

The company released a video that demonstrated the ability of the Echo to control a variety of devices, including a Cree bulb, an Osram Lightify bulb, a SmartPower Outlet and a Sonos player. Of course, the system still requires a SmartThings Hub, but if the user has already bought into the ecosystem, that should not be a problem.

One of the attention-grabbing aspects of the Echo is that reviews of the voice interface in particular noted how advanced and capable it was. Matching this kind of capability with a smart home setup seems like a perfect fit. And while it appears as though the Echo has a long way to go before it is able to become a fully featured home automation control system – it doesn’t support integration with Amazon’s own Fire Stick or TV, for example – it’s increasingly clear that home automation is indeed one of its most important applications.

This seems to be a fairly significant boost for Samsung, owner of SmartThings, in the standards wars. With Apple’s HomeKit and Google’s Nest and Brillo, to say nothing of the other standards out there, it does indicate that Samsung is gaining traction.