Amazon wants to make it easier to set up your smart home. Today at its hardware event, the company introduced a new Smart Plug device that brings Alexa’s voice control capabilities to anything you want to control – a coffee pot, a light, or anything else that can be powered on or off at a power outlet. What makes the device interesting is that it won’t require a smart home hub in order to work – that is, something like the premium Echo Plus it introduced last year.
It costs $25 which is pretty standard fare. Pre-order starts today and the product starts shipping next month.
It’s not the the first smart plug by any stretch, but it’s a big part of Amazon’s plans to be the connective tissue for the smart home. The device works instantly for those with an Echo at home. Plug it in and Alexa will recognize the device. From there, you can rename the device to designate which room it works in, making it easier to control devices remotely.
Check out our full coverage from the event here.