The final specification of Matter, the smart home interoperability protocol backed by Apple, Google, and Amazon, has been delayed. Matter was originally expected to be ready this fall, but Tobin Richardson, the CEO of the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), said in a blog post that timeline has been pushed out until the first half of 2022.
Stacey Higginbotham for Stacey on IoT:
That means we’ll have to wait until the first half of next year for the software development kit, the start of a formal certification program, and the first certified devices it turns out. When I asked Richardson if he could narrow that time frame down a bit, he declined. For consumers, it means the wait for new smart home devices that support the Matter protocol will be delayed until the latter half of 2022 (I can’t wait for our 2022 Gift Guide!) and for those developing products, it means they will need to hold off on their plans for a few more months.
Richardson gave several reasons why the Matter Working Group (formerly known as the Project Connected Home over IP Working Group) decided to delay the specification. They included the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the addition of another 29 companies to the Matter membership, and the challenge of delivering a high-quality software development kit as part of the spec.
MacDailyNews Take: A few months delay doesn’t really, uh, matter. Best to get the SDK right first!