Apple, Amazon, Google partner to make smart home devices more compatible

FILE PHOTO: Prompts on how to use Amazon's Alexa personal assistant are seen as a wifi-equipped Roomba begins cleaning a room in an Amazon ‘experience center’ in Vallejo, California, U.S., May 8, 2018. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O>, Apple Inc <AAPL.O> and Alphabet Inc's <GOOGL.O> Google are partnering to lay the groundwork for better compatibility among their smart home products, the companies said on Wednesday.

Zigbee Alliance, whose members include IKEA and NXP Semiconductors <NXPI.O> among others, will also contribute to the project, titled "Connected Home over IP".

The rare partnership comes against the backdrop of an intensified competition among global technology companies to dominate the market for voice assistants and other smart devices.

FILE PHOTO: Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering for Apple Inc., announces that the company's Siri assistant for iOS will be opened for developers at the company's World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, U.S. June 13, 2016. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

The group aims to make it easier for device manufacturers to build products that are compatible with smart home and voice services such as Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant.

Earlier this year, another consortium led by Amazon had launched an initiative to let users access Alexa, Microsoft Corp's <MSFT.O> Cortana and other voice-controlled virtual assistant services from a single device.

FILE PHOTO: Demonstrator Diana Reese poses by an auto infotainment system equipped with Google Assistant in the JVC-Kenwood booth during the 2019 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. January 8, 2019. REUTERS/Steve Marcus

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Maju Samuel)