• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, February 29, 2016

The idea of a smart home is less about the individual smart objects in it and more about how they all can work together.

In that context, Amazon is leading the small pack, at least based on what consumers are saying online.

Aside from an individual smart object, there are a few major platforms on which certain products can work, and they’re all from very major companies.

Apple has HomeKit, Amazon has Echo and Google promotes its Works with Nest.

Each has strengths and drawbacks, based on what customers have been saying about them, according to a new study.

The report is based on an analysis of 576,000 smart home device and application consumer reviews conducted by Argus Insights.

The top systems discussed were from Amazon and Apple, with Amazon’s Echo the most discussed.

The big catch in smart homes is that certain devices work only with certain systems and that’s a big catch, at the moment.

Amazon’s approach lets consumers control smart home devices through Amazon Echo, which is a combination hub and speaker. Apple, meanwhile, uses its own ecosystem where consumers manage devices with Siri only through an iOS enabled device.

By consumer reviews, Amazon has both the most buzz and the most positive sentiment over the last four months.

While Apple’s HomeKit got almost as much positive feedback as Amazon, it got the most negative feedback of all.

One of the common refrains from consumers is that they like Apple’s HomeKit but want it to be able to work with other smart devices.

And consumers with Google’s Nest want their devices to work with Apple products.

A big delight is Amazon’s integration with its AI Alexa, which can be used as an interface to control a smart home.

There’s also a battle for the voice of the smart home, or more accurately, the voice used to interact with smart objects in the home. Apple’s Siri requires using an Apple device while Amazon’s Alexa will work with any smart object using Amazon’s Echo technology.

While the systems don’t yet play well with each other, at least they are starting to more smoothly integrate the smart devices in their own worlds.