Dive Brief:
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Amazon announced that its new screen-enabled Echo Show will be capable of connecting to video cameras deployed around a household, allowing it to be used for home security purposes and other uses, according to a CNBC report.
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The Echo Show is scheduled to begin shipping this month. After they connect it to a smart camera, Echo Show users can ask Alexa to show the view from that camera, according to the CNBC story.
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Smart product makers such as Ring, Logitech, Arlo, Nest, August, EZViz, Vivint, Amcrest and IC Realtime already have agreed to support the Echo Show feature, according to a TechCrunch story.
Dive Insight:
The formal release of the Echo Show is coming next Wednesday, though customers have been able to pre-order it since the latest Echo device was announced in early May.
Amazon had already said that connecting to a smart camera for a security application, or maybe just so you could watch your baby sleeping, would be one possible use for Echo. These reports make clear how the Echo Show would do that and shows Amazon has already lined up tech companies to support such applications.
Ring is an interesting partner for the Echo platform — it has a doorbell-based smart camera. But Nest might be the most interesting partner on the list, given that it is owned by Google, which is trying to compete with Amazon on some aspects of smart home control and virtual assistant capabilities.
The original Echo device has been hugely popular, and Amazon has gone in different directions as it broadens the product family. The Echo Look is really geared to be a virtual style assistant, a pretty specific aim. But, the Echo Show's video capabilities open up a wide range of possibilities for Amazon to become more integrated and more indispensable in the homes of its customers.
