Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Judiciary
Committee's antitrust subcommittee, noted that Amazon had more than 50% of the
smart speaker market while Google had 30%, and stressed the importance of
interoperability.
"In a few years, people might easily have 20 or more
connected devices in their homes – from a vacuum and a fridge to speakers and
lights. We want those devices to work with each other seamlessly," she
said. "You shouldn't have to choose the right devices for your home based
on whether they play nicely with Google or Amazon's digital assistants."
Smart home technology includes smart speakers like Amazon's
Echo or Google's Nest, security systems or televisions.
Google Senior Public Policy Director Wilson White said
interoperability was a goal and there were "robust conversations"
underway on how to achieve it.
Ryan McCrate, Amazon's associate general counsel, said
Amazon wanted users to have access to multiple assistants from a single device
if that was what the user wanted.
Neither Google nor Amazon appeared to be trying for true
interoperability, said Eddie Lazarus, chief legal officer for smart speaker
maker Sonos.
Google contractually prohibits Sonos from using technology
that allows users to switch between Amazon's Alexa and the Google voice
assistant, Lazarus said. He said Amazon's effort to work with smaller companies
was "just an on-ramp into the Amazon ecosystem because you can't mix and
match between the big companies."
The hearing took place at a time of extraordinary interest
in tougher antitrust enforcement, much of it focused on the biggest U.S.
technology companies. One result has been a series of investigations and
several federal and state lawsuits filed against Google and Facebook as well as
a long list of antitrust bills.
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