Amazon has taken aim at the traditional alarm monitoring market, releasing a $US4.99 monthly fee for its Alexa Guard Plus service.
The Alexa Guard Plus subscription applies to the Alexa Guard and gives users hands-free access to an emergency helpline, smart alerts about activity and other emergencies in their home while they are away, as well as new features to deter potential intruders.
Alongside Alexa Guard Plus, Amazon is launching a free Energy Dashboard service that gives users details of the electrical usage by individual devices and systems in their home.
With Amazon Alexa Guard Plus, Alexa Guard systems can also detect and alert the homeowners about sounds of activity in the home while they are away and sound a siren from Echo devices. There’s no word on potential professional monitoring of such systems.
The service is U.S. only just now, but it’s a portent of what’s to come globally. Among other things it highlights the inability of industry regulators to come to terms with digital transformation in the electronic security market.
While security installers are required to be licensed and monitoring stations must meet strict standards, DIYers, big digital providers and IT people seem frustratingly exempt from security industry rules.
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