No official plans that I’ve seen announced.
I’ve been following the Anymote because I myself am quadriparetic and therefore really need voice control of my a/v devices. The following blog article from about two months ago sounded really positive:
http://blogs.msmvps.com/connectedhome/2016/05/09/alexa-turn-on-my-home-theateranymote-awesomeness/
But the Amazon reviews, as you mentioned, are discouraging. because I have to pay someone else to do the set up (with me telling them what to do), it looks like this would be an expensive project.
A friend of mine got an anymote on the basis of The same blog article, but ended up returning it 2 weeks later. He said it dropped connection all the time, it had horrible lag ( 15 to 20 seconds), uses the Alexa skill format which adds extra words to every command, and in general just didn’t seem worth the trouble to him. (And this is a guy who uses Homeseer, so he’s pretty technical.)
You do have several current options for IR control from SmartThings, although they’re not all officially supported. Some people also build their own.
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harmony. This has an official ST integration as well as an IFTTT channel. I use it and like it. The only thing is that the commands are not granular, they’re based on harmony activities. I can do things like change volume or channel surf, but it’s very clunky, and I would think people who have use of their hands would just use the button remote instead for those. But everybody at our house likes it for things like “watch Roku” or “watch Netflix.”
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global cache itach WiFi to IR bridge with HAM bridge software
Global cache makes a line of IR controllers. Cost is around $115. But that’s just the device, then you need some kind of software to run it.
HAM bridge was developed by a community member and runs on a Mac. The license cost is $29 and there’s a 25 day money back guarantee period. It requires some technical skills, but if you’re comfortable with AppleScript that should give you a lot of options at a relatively low cost. However, I don’t think it has an echo integration.
https://www.amazon.com/Global-Cache-WF2IR-iTach-Wi-Fi/dp/B0051BU418
You could also build your own control software if you wanted to.
- global cache with Roomie remote subscription (.now called simple control). roomie Remote is a paid app with a required monthly subscription that let you turn a tablet into a super remote. Global cache gives you the IR piece. It’s very highly rated by people who are comfortable paying a monthly subscription. (They rebranded the global cache device under their own name but it’s the same device.)
They have an integration with SmartThings which is official from their side. So you can use their code. Gives you granular control. And it does have Echo integration.
I look at this one a lot, and just never quite get around to buying it. You’re definitely paying extra for convenience with this one. But it does have a lot of features, and seems to be good quality. I think the subscription is around $50 a year.
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https://www.simplecontrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/SimpleControlEchoIntegration.pdf
Thinking it over, I realize that one of the reasons I’ve never gone for this one is that my housemate really likes a regular button remote, and he’s the one who bought the harmony in the first place. Roomie remote only uses your smart device, there’s no physical button remote.
So different people have different preferences in this regard. Some are only going to use voice control, some are fine with using a tablet, some, like my housemate, want a physical button remote.
But you can definitely get IR control for smartthings in several different ways. Choice is good. 
p.s. My housemate heard me dictating this and just asked “could we use both?”
That is, could we use roomie remote/Alexa for voice control and the harmony (which we already own) as the physical universal button remote. Which is an interesting thought, but I keep hoping that echo will add its own hands free fire TV integration which would give me easier volume control. I don’t really channel surf, so volume control is the only “needs improvement” thing I have left and I don’t want to buy a whole separate system just for that.