Lenovo has exited the smart home market with several of their retailers now looking for replace brands.
The decision to exit this market is believed to be a global directive according to retail sources.
Among the products set to disappear are intelligent light bulbs, strip lighting and smart plugs along with voice activated clock radios and smart starter kits.
Currently JB Hi Fi has over 44 Lenovo products listed on their web site. Harvey Norman has nine ranged.
According to multiple sources Lenovo is getting out of the Smart connect market worldwide.
Lenovo entered this market in 2017 with Brendon Lau taking up a senior role as regional General Manager of the Companies Smart Devices marketing in Australia and Asia Pacific.
He was later promoted to Director of Global Sales & Go to Market Lead for Smart Devices.
Lau has not returned our calls.
A spoksperson for Lenovo said “As part of its wider transformation of its business, Lenovo discontinued some of its smart home offerings earlier this year. The company remains committed to evaluating and innovating around future technologies across its portfolio of products, solutions, software, and services ranging from PCs, tablets, and smartphones to smart collaboration and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) solutions.”
Back in 2017 Lenovo believed that there was a market to compete in after they were eencouraged by the growing emergence of new products in the smart home industry.
One of their first products was a new voice-activated smart speaker.
The company initially targeting the US and Chinese markets and then Australia.
From the beginning, Lenovo’s strategy for the smart home was on strategic partnerships with third party manufacturers in China and Taiwan.
Some are contributing the lack of a platform such as Matter for the lack of interest in fragmented smart home technology and the decision by Lenovo to exit the market.
Matter is an upcoming protocol that if launched will allow attach devices such as those sold by Lenovo to work across major platforms.
The only problem is that Matter that was due in 2021 and then CES 2022 but unfortunately, it’s still not been launched. 
At IFA 2022 in Berlin many were anticipating a Metter update, but executives and brands remained tight lipped with some insiders claiming that major fights are taking place between brands over the future of Matter.
Terry Smart the CEO of JB Hi Fi told ChannelNews recently that Matter is needed to pull the smart category together making it easier for consumers to manage multiple products on the network.
While companies like Amazon and Google have announced plans to upgrade specific products to Matter, there’s still complications for several brands who want to be on the Matter platform.
At IFA 2022 Samsung went hard promoting their own SmartThings platform.
As a result of the delay consumers are holding off making a smart purchase.
It’s also unclear how Matter will work on some accessory types. While a variety of smart speakers will support the standard, for example, not every speaker will double as a Matter hub for linking other accessories, and it’s possible those devices may have minimal functionality outside of their native ecosystems.
I wouldn’t count on Apple’s Spatial Audio format carrying over to setups with Alexa or Google Assistant speakers mixed in, or vice versa claimed Android Authority recently.
During COVID Lenovo was spruking that home technology has come a long way in recent years. Living in a “smart home” can provide a convenient and high-end experience” they claimed.
Being able to turn on and off the lights with a voice command, adjusting the thermostat right from your smartphone, or answering the front door from anywhere in the house – smart devices make simple tasks even more seamless for many people a spokesperson said.
However, these “simple” tasks are not simple for everyone. When you think of those who are living with accessibility and dexterity challenges, smart technology can be a big game-changer in making them feel more independent and empowered in their homes.
Despite a wide range of products there was little marketing for Lenovo smart products with retailers telling ChannelNews that the category will not take off until Matter is launched and all key brands are on an Open Platform such as Matter in the future.
JB Hi Fi is now ranging nine products from Laser Corporation under their Smart Home brand.
They are also trialing seversal other brands from Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers.
