Amazon Echo about to control smart thermostats

Amazon's strangest product is about to connect to one of the most out-of-nowhere devices in the smart home today. Amazon Echo is said by sources close to the subject (who wish to remain anonymous) to be working with smart thermostats soon. This means that users will be able to ask Amazon Echo's smart assistant system Alexa to turn of their heat or turn the temperature cooler, for starters. After that, the smart temperature is the limit – all you need to do is ask.

Sources close to the Amazon Echo platform are said to have spoken with Forbes this week, suggesting that Alexa, through the Amazon Echo device, will be able to connect with and control multiple smart thermostat systems. This "could" include those such as Ecobee, Nest, and models of connected Honeywell thermostats, amongst others.

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At the moment, Amazon Echo has a collection of supported smart devices it connects to natively, as well as a collection that can be connected using a special "Skill". It's possible that these smart thermostats could be connected natively in the future, or added on with a Skill.

It'll likely come down to how popular each system is, and whether or not Amazon trusts the user to take on the responsibility of pronouncing their devices' names correctly without aid.

Again, this information relating to smart thermostats is not yet official straight from Amazon, but from a 3rd party speaking anonymously. If we do see thermostat connectivity with the Amazon Echo device this year, expect it closer to the middle or the second half of the year rather than the first quarter.