O2 first to export AT&T Digital Life smart home platform to UK

UK mobile operator O2 has announced it will partner with AT&T to offer a new smart home platform to UK consumers later this year.

Speaking at the AT&T Developer Conference in Las Vegas prior immediately before CES, O2 said it will be the first to offer services based on the AT&T Digital Life smart home platform in Europe. The operator is positioning O2 Home as the ‘complete smart home experience’ and is also partnering with thermostat company Tado, as well as Samsung and Serco for cameras and Yale for locks to achieve this.

“At O2 we are building an ecosystem that will deliver a complete smart home experience,” said David Plumb, Digital Director at O2. “By teaming up with the very best device, platform and service providers, we will be able to give people the smartest tech for their homes.

“We are pleased to announce our collaboration with AT&T for their Digital Life platform which will integrate old and new devices around the home, and Tado for their truly smart heating control. We are also keen to hear from others who want to join our ecosystem.”

“Digital Life’s platform is an end-to-end solution that pulls a variety of devices and capabilities into a single experience that allows consumers to see through the noise and manage the system through a single app,” said Kevin Peterson, President of AT&T Digital Life. “By adding OEM’s such as Tado to the ecosystem, O2’s customers will have even more choice in managing their connected home experience.”

Telefónica, O2’s parent company, started European trials of the AT&T platform way back in 2014, so it will have taken two years to come to fruition when O2 Home finally launches in the UK. But this does seem to be a pioneering move, which may well catalyse a flurry of UK smart home activity later this year.