Amazon, Connected Home and Health Tech Dominate CES

The 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is a wrap, dominated by Amazon announcements and a string of digital health unveilings.

Drawing a throng of live attendees pegged at over 115,000 people for the first time since 2020, CES was the parade of digital gadgets expected from the annual show, and if one name brand made the most of it, that would have to be Amazon and its slew of CES announcements.

In a blog post summarizing its CES showstoppers, Amazon touted its support of the Matter protocol developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) as a manufacturer-agnostic operating system for connected smart home products (see more about Matter below).

Amazon used the Las Vegas live event to talk up its latest Matter moves, notably the first three features of Alexa Ambient Home Dev Kit: credentials sharing, group sync and two-way device sync. A separate post on the Amazon developer blog said, “These bi-directional cloud-based features are designed to be flexible, allowing developers to maximize their development effort and reach more households and users regardless of their mobile OS or connectivity protocol they use to connect devices to Alexa.”

Also on tap were Ring Car Cam and the Ring Peephole Cam, the former for auto security, the latter for home security, and both equipped with new optics and sensors. Also, in automotive, Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America updated its SkipGen in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) system to use Siri and Alexa simultaneously for greater flexibility.

In voice, the new Alexa wake word “Hey Disney” made a splash, with experiences designed for home use — like hearing the local weather voiced by a favorite Disney character — and for visitors to Walt Disney hotels and resorts.

As PYMNTS reported, the new Disney wake word experience will be available in the coming months via “Amazon Echo smart speakers as well as through Disney’s MagicBand+, the interactive wearable worn by Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort visitors to enter the parks, interact with programming and experiences, and redeem Lightning Lane access, among other features.”

Read: Amazon Alexa and Disney Team on ‘Hey Disney’

The shared network Amazon Sidewalk service launched in 2020 is getting a boost from new alert integrations from New Cosmos USA Inc., Browan and Meshify coming later this year.

Electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions firm EVgo announced a new pact “to support an Alexa-enabled EV charging experience. This collaboration will allow drivers to ask Alexa to help them find and navigate to nearby EV charging stations, as well as initiate and pay for charging sessions at EVgo stations seamlessly. The companies plan to roll out the in-vehicle functionality to Alexa-enabled vehicles as well as automotive accessories like Echo Auto later this year.”

Connected Home, Connected Health

Beating others to the punch with a pre-show announcement, Samsung Electronics expanded its line of Bespoke connected home appliances that also use the CSA’s Matter protocol, debuting “a wider selection of Bespoke refrigerator types, a bigger and more immersive 32-inch screen for the Bespoke 4-Door Flex with Family Hub+ and advanced AI Pro Cooking for the Bespoke AI Oven that optimizes and assists in preparing meals,” per a press release.

“Smart home tech will have a challenging year in the U.S. due to declining home sales and a slowdown in new home builds,” Consumer Technology Association (CTA) Director, Industry Analysis and Business Intelligence Rick Kowalski told PYMNTS via email. CTA owns the CES Show.

“Home security solutions remain popular with consumers, and budget-minded consumers may look to connected thermostats to help save on fuel costs. The new Matter standard, which improves interoperability among major smart home brands, sets the smart home market up for strong growth once the housing market recovers,” Kowalski added.

Read: CES 2023 Puts Smart Home, Digital Health Tech in Spotlight

Among digital and connected health announcements at the show, Kyoto, Japan-based Omron Healthcare debuted its “Going for Zero” plan to eliminate heart attacks using early detection technologies with features including its Personal Heart Health Coach app that it said “analyzes vital data recorded with OMRON-connected devices by using AI technology and provides users with insights and guidance for behavior change.”

Telehealth tech firm Medwand announced its partnership with the Urban-Rural Healthcare Alliance in what Medwand President and CEO Robert Rose called “an entire ecosystem that, when appropriately administered, provides a bridge to universal access to high-quality healthcare and health equity.”

The effort is being supported by “collaborating companies including AT&T, HP, and Oracle.”