LG And Samsung Team Up To Make Their Smart Home Devices, Apps Play Nice Together
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Getting smart appliances across different brands to work well together appears to have just gotten a whole lot easier. On Tuesday, the Home Connectivity Alliance issued a press release, as did member companies LG and Samsung, all of which announced that the HCA members would begin to implement the standardized HCA Interface Specification 1.0 in their appliances in the fourth quarter of 2023 and beyond. Going forward, this means that if you have a preference for a specific brand's app for managing your smart devices, you can just use that app to control everything instead of having to rely on separate apps or hope for every device to have a good implementation in something like Google Home.
The HCA announced their specifications in January at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "This is a monumental achievement for our members to release the HCA Interface Specification 1.0 within one year of the organization's launch at CES 2022," said Yoon Ho Choi, HCA President, in the January press release "The availability of this specification will enable the large appliance industry to begin development of interoperable and energy-efficient ecosystems between trusted global brands that will provide convenience, help stabilize the electrical grid, and help deliver cost savings for consumers."
Legacy devices are included, too
The HCA and Samsung press releases both noted that this Cloud-to-Cloud (or C2C for short) interoperability will not strictly be for new products. The HCA release in particular stresses "legacy device integration" that's possible because "the C2C connectivity does not require a new hub or updates to appliances." calling it "particularly beneficial" for those legacy devices.
"It is great to see HCA bring its first example of interoperability to market with global leaders in the appliance, HVAC, and TV industries," added Samsung's Chanwoo Park, Executive Vice President and Head of the Service Biz Group, Digital Appliances Business, in his company's press release. "It is a testament to the commitment of large device manufacturers to better serve our consumers in their homes. By enabling consumers to control multiple brands of appliances and HVAC products through apps such as SmartThings, we expect the smart home market to achieve new levels of scale. Global leaders will be able to fuel enhanced digital services that provide consumers with new benefits, and Samsung is steadfast in its commitment to HCA and its vision."