There is a vendor that sells the same product four different ways - without smartness, Zigbee, Z-Wave+, or Matter over Thread. The Matter version is more than triple the cost of the Zigbee version (e.g., $95 vs $30).
I inquired about the reasoning for that, and their response was that anything that can connect to Apple Home needs a very expensive license.
How is it that IKEA can sell a $7 Matter over Thread device that can connect to Apple Home just fine?
One explanation I thought of is that the licensing is per product rather than per unit sold, and this vendor sells far fewer units to spread the cost over.
[I’m not naming the specific vendor, because I’m not asking this to cast any aspersions on them. I’m just curious how the licensing works.]
What are the costs associated with the MFi Program for HomeKit accessories?
The MFi Program has a participation fee of USD $99 (plus any applicable tax) for companies wishing to create HomeKit accessories. Additional costs may arise from the requirement to use a licensed chip from Apple for certification, but specific royalty information is only available under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
My opinion, because it is the latest buzzword, and supply and demand. People think Zigbee and Z-wave ( especially so) is washed up and antiquated.
I said numerous times back in 2019 on Reddit that Matter would be years if not more than a decade before it was even close to matching the existing Z protocols in device count or popularity. I was savagely downvoted and called stupid.
"Z-wave is dead!" "Zigbee is dead!." "I am only buying Matter devices and throwing away the old junk". Stuff like that.
Point of my anecdote being that even back then people thought the Z protocols were done and over with, and they wanted all the new "modern" stuff. The companies selling devices are playing into that audience.
Your assumption is correct. For small vendors Matter certification is borderline prohibitive, though has nothing to do with Apple, and Apple doesn't require additional licensing to allow a Matter product to connect to their platform.
From a quick Google search:
Z-Wave device certification costs between $1,000 and $6,000 per device.
Zigbee total upfront costs typically range from $5,000 to over $20,000 per product.
Matter typically costs between $10,000 and $25,000+ per product.
"...using Matter with Thread it requires to factor in the cost of $165,000 in the product pricing model to keep a product with firmware updates for 10 years. It is just in licensing, not including software developer's cost."
This is interesting. If not because of the licensing/certification, why are zwave devices generally more expensive than zigbee? Silicon Labs control over the physical chip - pay less for certification, but more for the chip, or something else?