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Amazon Unveils Game-Changing Wireless Streaming Protocol at CES 2024, Takes on Apple's AirPlay Dominance
At the CES 2024 conference in Las Vegas, Amazon unveiled a new feature similar to Apple’s AirPlay. Apple AirPlay is a proprietary wireless communications protocol available only in Apple devices, but Amazon’s latest product is designed to work seamlessly across platforms.This service is available to users on both iPhone and Android devices so can wirelessly stream video and other content to Amazon TV hardware.
The company says that feature will make it easier for iOS and Android phone users to stream video directly to Amazon devices. Matter Casting is starting to ship Prime Video content with its Echo Show program, but Fire TV will get it "in the coming months”.
If you have a Google Pixel phone, you can only shoot video to Google's Chromecast-enabled display, iPhones and other Apple gadgets can only be shot via AirPlay, and this annoying exclusivity could mean we don't get the most out of our tech that we do not remain the only living being.
Amazon is taking a step toward integrating these systems by introducing Matter casting with the Prime Video app and more Amazon devices. If we launch the Prime Video app and click the cast icon regardless of your phone, we should see a wide variety of compatible hardware on which we can record video. Pea casting can bypass hardware limitations because it uses app-to-app communication, according to Chris DeCenzo, chief engineer at Amazon.
The feature is first arriving on the Echo Show 15 smart display, and Amazon says Fire TVs may soon also have Matter casting as well. Later this year, other streaming platforms including Pluto TV, Plex, Sling TV, Starz, and ZDF will follow Prime Video to add support on the software side – not big hitters from our best streaming services list, but a start nonetheless.
What is Matter Casting?
The product is an open-source smart home protocol backed by major companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, and others – that aims to make it easier to configure and connect your smart home.
We only had a smart home device that connected to Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple Homekit. This made finding the right products unnecessarily confusing and sometimes meant being locked out of the best smart home devices because they were with an ecosystem we weren’t a part of just meet.
Matter allows you to integrate all of your smart home appliances (well, the assistive ones) into one unified system. Unfortunately, we don’t expect Apple and Google to play as nicely with Matter casting as they do with other Matter programs.
In its CES announcements, Google revealed that all new LG TVs will have built-in Chromecast capabilities as well as the usual Matter casting hubs but didn’t specifically mention Matter casting Apple has wanted its walled garden path and devices like Sonos speakers all the time.
Companies have played nicely in the past, and with Matter casting becoming more of a software feature if enough third-party apps make it work, Google and Apple may finally have to buckle to the popularity of the standard.
Conclusion:
Amazon's strategic entry into wireless streaming is a testament to the company's commitment to pushing the boundaries of technology. As competition between tech giants intensifies, consumers can see a future where the way we learn and share the products continues to improve and improve, and releasing its AirPlay competitor at CES 2024 marks a significant milestone in Amazon's journey to redefine the digital landscape.