Prompts on how to use Amazon's Alexa personal assistant are seen in an Amazon ‘experience centre’ in Vallejo, California, U.S., May 8, 2018.

U.S. senator presses Amazon, Google on Matter smart-home effort

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2021-06-23 11:30:08

Prompts on how to use Amazon's Alexa personal assistant are seen in an Amazon ‘experience centre’ in Vallejo, California, U.S., May 8, 2018. Picture taken May 8, 2018. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage/File Photo

June 23 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google need to offer more details about how their smart-home devices and virtual assistants will support competition and user privacy, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar wrote to the companies on Tuesday.

In a letter, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee said testimony last week by attorneys from the companies left her with concerns about their dominance of the fast-growing field.

She asked the companies which of their products will support - and which will not - a recently revamped industry alliance known as Matter. The group, which includes Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Ikea and others, aims to allow home-automation gadgets such as internet-connected lights and speakers from various companies to sync with one another.

"For what period of time do you commit to support the Matter interoperability project, and who at your companies is responsible for determining whether to extend the length of your commitment to Matter?" Klobuchar wrote to Amazon and Google.

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