Wall Street Journal: HomeKit Already needs Renovation
- Thread starter Automate
- Start date
Other reviews say HomeKit still needs a lot of work.
http://www.thedigitalmediazone.com/2015/06/04/insteon-hub-pro-adds-homekit-loses-lots-of-insteon/
http://arijaycomet.com/2015/06/22/quick-look-lutron-caseta-wireless-lighting-with-apple-homekit-integration-l-bdg2-wh/
http://www.cepro.com/article/hands_on_lutron_homekit-compatible_caseta_wireless_smart_bridge_controls_li/
http://www.thedigitalmediazone.com/2015/06/04/insteon-hub-pro-adds-homekit-loses-lots-of-insteon/
http://arijaycomet.com/2015/06/22/quick-look-lutron-caseta-wireless-lighting-with-apple-homekit-integration-l-bdg2-wh/
http://www.cepro.com/article/hands_on_lutron_homekit-compatible_caseta_wireless_smart_bridge_controls_li/
Well with all due respect, when a the Gorilla is planning on walking in the room, no one says its a good idea or that the Gorilla belongs.
The reality is, once the Gorilla walks in, he will often end up in control or sharing it. Maybe not immediately, but he has a huge impact by just being there, and if he improves himself he can quickly become the default boss.
Thats Apples entire strategy in a nutshell on everything now.
Their solution may not be where it needs to be now, but you better bet it will get there. And sadly, I am not even a fan of theirs.
The reality is, once the Gorilla walks in, he will often end up in control or sharing it. Maybe not immediately, but he has a huge impact by just being there, and if he improves himself he can quickly become the default boss.
Thats Apples entire strategy in a nutshell on everything now.
Their solution may not be where it needs to be now, but you better bet it will get there. And sadly, I am not even a fan of theirs.
Dean Roddey
Senior Member
But, this is an area where they cannot do that without the active cooperation (even capitulation in some ways) of a wide range of other companies. Doesn't matter how nice they make it if they don't get the very broad support needed to make it a one stop shopping sort of scenario. They may be big, but not that big compared to the combined heft of all of the companies that would have to choose to cooperate in order for them to really dominate. An of course they aren't the only Gorilla either, which will complicate things for them. Some of those many companies will likely take one side, and many others the other side. So, leaving aside those that don't play at all, if they effectively end up splitting it down the middle, neither will dominate, and neither will be something you can just buy and it'll be likely to just work with the stuff you have.
Deane Johnson
Active Member
I've been sort of watching this lately, mostly out of curiosity, but I'm beginning to believe the concept of HomeWorks will not work. Most companies mindset is just not into "plays well with others". I actually can't blame them in a way. It's not comforting to have your company's destiny in the control of someone else.
I would not quickly dismiss Apple in this area. Its longer-term plans aren't always apparent with its initial product releases.
When Apple released the iPhone in 2007, it was like other smartphones of the time, with the exception being that it used a touch screen rather than buttons. Apple knew all along that a touch screen was only one part of the puzzle, but others did not. While the world debated if a touchscreen was a good user interface or not, Apple was working on part 2 of the iPhone, and 2008, Apple added a new innovation to the iPhone, the app. store. Nobody saw it coming.
I would not jump to any quick conclusions about Homekit as it is likely but one part of a bigger vision. Debate all you like, but realize in a few years you might look as silly as all those people in 2007 debating if a smartphone should have a touchscreen.
When Apple released the iPhone in 2007, it was like other smartphones of the time, with the exception being that it used a touch screen rather than buttons. Apple knew all along that a touch screen was only one part of the puzzle, but others did not. While the world debated if a touchscreen was a good user interface or not, Apple was working on part 2 of the iPhone, and 2008, Apple added a new innovation to the iPhone, the app. store. Nobody saw it coming.
I would not jump to any quick conclusions about Homekit as it is likely but one part of a bigger vision. Debate all you like, but realize in a few years you might look as silly as all those people in 2007 debating if a smartphone should have a touchscreen.
As I think many of the 100,000's of Apple iPhone application developers will tell you, they are pretty happy that Apple came along to create a means for them to get their applications on a smartphone and make money doing it. Before that time the phone manufacturers were very protective and would never let a third party application run on their phone. Rather different companies at the time competed for subsegments of the total market, like they do today in home automation. For example, ESPN was selling a "Sports Phone" for sports fanatics, and another company, Amp'd Wireless, had phones just for music and videos, Nextel made many phones for Nascar enthusiasts.Deane Johnson said:
Looking back now it all seemed so silly.
Dean Roddey
Senior Member
But, at the same time, you are saying that about arguably the most closed architecture tech company out there.
Developers always seem to think "open is good" and "closed is bad" but I'm not so sure the feeling is the same in the public in general. Take the "closed" Apple app. store vs. the "open" Android store. For a developer, Android is probably preferred, less rules, but how do others see that? Which has more buggy virus laden apps.? Which apps. have to work across many versions because some many older devices on low powered phones?Dean Roddey said:
Look at the Android vs. Apple sales trends. People eventually get to a point where playtime is over and they just want things to work. Isn't that the theme of CQC?
There has always been lots of debate between open, free standards, and proprietary ones tending to be driven by one company, but if you look back, be it the PC and Windows, the iPhone and iPod and Apple, or many of the other turning points of a given technology, it was always one technology or standard from a single company that turned chaos into a major business.
pvrfan
Active Member
Dean Roddey said:
"Other companies" will come to Homekit for the classic reason--so they can make a lot of money!
Suppose you have a great idea for a smart device. If you make it Homekit compatible, you get access to a very large market of consumers who have already shown that they're willing to pay premium prices for what they perceive to be top quality products. As I've said before, marketer's wet dream!
And I don't think supporting Homekit excludes other standards. In fact, having worked through the Homekit certification process probably puts your company far ahead if you decide to support Weave, Alljoyn, or whatever. It seems like they are going to cover almost all the same ground in a slightly different manner. You'll adapt your interface for the differences in those standards rather than starting over from zero.
BTW, the other huge factor for Homekit is that a newbie can start with one simple, inexpensive accessory. For example, Incipio has announced a $25 smart plug that someone could use to run their Christmas lights or landscape lights. The Homekit libraries are already on their iPhone; download the Incipio app and they are off and running. If they have a good experience, maybe they'll look for more opportunities. That's a great way to start the ball rolling.
Craig
Dean Roddey
Senior Member
I think you kind of have it backwards. Developers would LOVE for there to be one single target to develop to and make as much money as possible from as little work as possible. The reason there isn't one single target, is that customers want something that fits their budget and their own self image.
Dean Roddey
Senior Member
I don't see how that's likely. This is very much going to be a commodity market. It has to in order to actually achieve its goals. The egg monitoring trays and such will be trivial compared to the bread and butter stuff (lights, locks, security, motion, sensors) which will all be total commodities. You only have to look at existing systems which depend on third party manufacturers, such as Z-Wave, to know that this is the case.
It's more likely that some companies will make them in order to check off a box within a larger list of automation objectives, the others of which will be (at least in their eyes) probably the real money makers, like selling information on how many times you pee a day and the like.
As to Homekit precluding supporting other standards, of course it doesn't. But the degree to which companies support both, it just makes it less likely any one standard will dominate, and make it harder for other companies to pick a side and jump in. And creating modular systems that support multiple standards may also not be very practical except for the larger modules (like locks), which have enough margins to justify it, I dunno. That seems to be the case today.
Anyway, that's all I have to say. Otherwise this will just go on and on.
pvrfan
Active Member
Not to keep beating a dead horse, but I really don't understand what you're trying to say here. You do know that Apple is adamant that Homekit information is private and secure. Single use keys are employed for encryption both when data is stored and transmitted. If someone really wants to know your urinary habits, Homekit isn't going to help them. What are your other "automation objectives"?Dean Roddey said:
Craig
Dean Roddey
Senior Member
Well, I was being somewhat facetious, but of course the Homekit chip is not the only way that a device can communicate either. So it could be quite possible that Homekit devices could phone home. Not simpler ones likely, but more complex ones might. If someone is going to put a HomeKit chip in an A/V receiver, media player, or TV there's no way that Apple is going to tell them it can't have an outgoing IP connection, for instance. Or, if someone sell not a set of Homekit sensors but a hub that supports various types of modules, including Homekit devices, and the hub inherently includes a cloud based back end, etc... Anyway, that wasn't really my point, just a cynical aside.
'Other objectives' means selling other stuff, such as selling some larger systems that may support such devices or that such devices are part of, selling home monitoring services, selling their designs to OEMs who might use them for such things, etc... We, for instance, put a LOT of work into writing drivers but we don't sell them. They exist to help sell the larger system of which they are part.
I think that larger companies that get involved (home automation oriented ones I mean) would more likely sell such devices for that type of reason, and may wall sell competing ones as well. Smaller companies would more likely make them to sell in and of themselves, but I don't think any of those latter companies are going to become rich doing so, because they will be in a very commodity market.
I think it would be quite similar to the Z-Wave world in both those aspects.
'Other objectives' means selling other stuff, such as selling some larger systems that may support such devices or that such devices are part of, selling home monitoring services, selling their designs to OEMs who might use them for such things, etc... We, for instance, put a LOT of work into writing drivers but we don't sell them. They exist to help sell the larger system of which they are part.
I think that larger companies that get involved (home automation oriented ones I mean) would more likely sell such devices for that type of reason, and may wall sell competing ones as well. Smaller companies would more likely make them to sell in and of themselves, but I don't think any of those latter companies are going to become rich doing so, because they will be in a very commodity market.
I think it would be quite similar to the Z-Wave world in both those aspects.
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