Do we think Zigbee or Zwave will lay down and accept defeat at some point or will most hubs have to continually support both?
They both have their own benefits. So I don't see why we should give up one over the other. I'm glad I have both. What I'm less glad with are devices that are wifi connected and need their own cloud server to work properly. I like to have a system without cloud dependency.
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Typo? 
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Definitely
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The cloud dependency is a choice of the vendor. Some (eg: TP-Link, bleBox, Samsung Wifi Speakers) have local processing and local-based apps and drivers. I try to (but fail) avoid devices that are cloud-based and have no api for local-only control. I so much like my Video Doorbell and Sprinkler control systems that are only available via cloud-based integrations!
No universal need, or driver, for one standard.
EDIT: I concede there is NEED for a universal standard. But I stand behind my comments below that none of the existing standards available fit the requirements.
For there to be only one standard, it would have to be the best in all (or at least the VAST majority) of scenarios (cost, reliability, distance, size, battery life, ease of use, ease of development, security, availability, frequency use/multi-region support, bandwidth), and right now there is no one protocol that is the leader in all of those requirements. None.
- Zigbee is great, but can have (and does have) interference issues in dense wifi deployment areas. And the standard has been too open ended in the past, leading to a lot of manufacturer specific clusters.
- RadioRA* is great, but expensive and limited availability/manufacturers/device options.
- Zwave is great, but is slow and different frequencies in different regions and a pain in the arse to develop devices for at the stack level (although zwave 700 fixes most of that).
- Wifi is great, but battery life sucks, isn't mesh based (in HA wifi devices), has many proprietary implementations when it comes to HA, etc.
There are many more bullet points PRO/CON on each of those, but you get the idea.
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Sort of reminds me of the 80's and adding devices to PCs. In 10 years, there may be a binding standard for home-automation devices over wifi (perhaps using UPNP. It seems like a good idea given the desire to integrate with so many masters (Amazon, Google, Samsung, TP-Link, Harmony). It would return integration responsibility to the master from the many vendors.
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Betamax, VHS, Video2000.
Those were the days.
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Thinking of that and the times after, Philips was so bad at marketing. 
@bobbles Funny you said that because that is exactly what was going through my mind while reading this thread. When Toshiba's HD video discs and Sony's Blue-ray were first introduced I chose a Blue-ray player for one simple reason, which I literally said to my son at the time of purchase. "Sony won't lose this battle twice"
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"Standards Smandards" There is no such thing as a standard in the technology world. As soon as somebody lands on a technology, somebody comes out with one that tops it. WiFi6 (802.11ax with WPA3) is on the horizon that topped 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11a, 802.11b, etc... The Wifi devices that you buy today won't play in the new tech world of tomorrow. The cloud company that hosts the devices today, won't be around in a few years to host your, now dead, cloud device. And what about security? Those Wifi connected devices are open targets for hackers as they sit on your preciously vulnerable wifi network. I prefer diversity in my devices, none of which are wifi. I turned off my last 2 WeMo devices yesterday replacing them with Z-wave equivalents. Only my hubs are on the network and I "watch" them closely. Zigbee, Zwave, ClearConnect, etc all have their place. With one hub to bring them together why not exploit the strengths of each. Range, interference, security, frequency, etc are all factors that make each one uniquely positioned for the specific application. Diversity in protocols/standards is a good thing so that we don't have one weak point in the topography. I do find the shear number of new IoT devices coming on the market centered around WiFi disturbing. The next big Cybersecurity breach platform will be the thousands of these IP devices sitting on unprotected home networks waiting for the opportunity to pounce when instructed. And they will strike at the heart of privacy in the home. Cybersecurity used to be about putting up the castle wall and keeping the bad guys out. Now it's how to keep them in, once they get through the wall, so that they can't talk back home. Just my two cents....
Will we ever get one standard?
It would be nice to have something troublefree .. and so I hope it isn't either of these !
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One technology to watch is Thread. Among other things, it improves mesh communication. It's what Nest Protects use to communicate reliably with each other. Many of the major device OEMs including Lutron, Jasco and Yale are members as are Apple and Zigbee Alliance.
https://www.threadgroup.org/thread-group#OurMembers
I have no idea how things will look in the future, but it will be different than today.
No hard feelings but thread is just zigbee with some protocol differences that make security and compatibility easier. It still uses the same kind of mesh type networking over the same overcrowded frequency 2.4ghz
If we are going to talk about a new technology that could change stability and a lot of other problems look at vemesh.
Could you imagine having a different type of gas at the pump for every car manufacturer out there?
You'd think Silicon Labs would try and piece this all together instead of widening their product line.
Now that Silicon Labs owns both Z-wave and Zigbee, I would like to see them consolidating things somehow. I could foresee something like Zigbee being used only for sensors, with Z-wave being for switches and other power devices. Maybe have a dual frequency chip that could speak with both or either protocol?
Probably by the time anything happened, there would be yet another new protocol and this would all be moot.
Zigbee is based on an IEEE standard, unlike Z-Wave which was produced by Zensys. I don't think that Silicon Labs controls Zigbee any more than Texas Instruments, Atmel, NXP, or any of the other Zigbee solution providers do.
On the other hand Silicon Labs pretty much controls Z-Wave, albeit with input from other members of the Z-Wave alliance. I think it's the only hardware provider of Z-Wave solutions however.
"The wonderful thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from."
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