Apple is coming to home automation

icerabbit

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Of course!

We all need an iHome with an iAlarm, several iCams, an iTemp, iFridge, iFreeze, iTV, iIrrigate, etc :D

I will be watching this closely, but as with anything Apple, don't jump in head first. There's too much of a pattern of things being half-baked in the real world and proprietary when it comes to connectors and communications. I'm genuinely curious what Apple can do in this space, but like most people have some reservations.
 

Mike

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Definitely saw this one coming. I'm glad that I am not an Apple guy. I'll be sticking with my vera lite and android devices :D

Thanks for sharing @fenderman
 
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hmjgriffon

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Of course!

We all need an iHome with an iAlarm, several iCams, an iTemp, iFridge, iFreeze, iTV, iIrrigate, etc :D

I will be watching this closely, but as with anything Apple, don't jump in head first. There's too much of a pattern of things being half-baked in the real world and proprietary when it comes to connectors and communications. I'm genuinely curious what Apple can do in this space, but like most people have some reservations.
You already know exactly what they will do. They will come up with something that looks cool "to some people". Something any retard can use. It will be all proprietary so you can only use crapple products with it. It will be horribly limited as to what you can do because crapple knows best. They will horribly over-price it. Oh yeah, they will pretend they invented home automation, like the way they pretended they invented copy and paste on smartphones.
 

networkcameracritic

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It's the "internet of things" concept. I've seen some apps try this, to consolidate multiple devices into one app, sort of what is already being done with Z-Wave but until there's a standard more akin to Z-Wave, it will always be disparate devices that don't play well together.
 

hmjgriffon

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It's the "internet of things" concept. I've seen some apps try this, to consolidate multiple devices into one app, sort of what is already being done with Z-Wave but until there's a standard more akin to Z-Wave, it will always be disparate devices that don't play well together.

I think it will be much worse, we are talking apple here. You most likely will not be able to use z-wave or anything else with their stuff, it will be all apple, or all nothing. At least until 3rd parties come out with stuff to allow you to mix and match.
 

icerabbit

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It is hard to envision what will happen.

I'm not holding my breath, based on Apple's history of big ideas but then implementing small locked-down half-practical solutions, letting them languish and even abandon them. The various rumors going around seem to suggest it would be a protocol. Not hardware. Anyhow. Apple's very much like Sony in going their own way. Things are always very slow to develop, proprietary and expensive. This could be some ihome-ish certification that will be expensive for the manufacturer and consumer.

I've been keeping an eye out for a replacement car. The manufacturer is an Apple partner for carplay, was used in various demos, but do you think there's any information or confirmation out there about MY15 models? Nope. It was promised last year carplay would be standard on '15s. Some of the order guides are now out, but, not a word about the upgraded hardware/firmware of the entertainment units. And, on contrary, there's still the option for the old $$$ iPhone connectivity kit ... which I thought carplay would obsolete.

That's not to say I'm not quietly optimistic for some consolidation in the market, maybe like onvif for ip cameras, and some other examples; but time will really tell.
 

hmjgriffon

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It is hard to envision what will happen.

I'm not holding my breath, based on Apple's history of big ideas but then implementing small locked-down half-practical solutions, letting them languish and even abandon them. The various rumors going around seem to suggest it would be a protocol. Not hardware. Anyhow. Apple's very much like Sony in going their own way. Things are always very slow to develop, proprietary and expensive. This could be some ihome-ish certification that will be expensive for the manufacturer and consumer.

I've been keeping an eye out for a replacement car. The manufacturer is an Apple partner for carplay, was used in various demos, but do you think there's any information or confirmation out there about MY15 models? Nope. It was promised last year carplay would be standard on '15s. Some of the order guides are now out, but, not a word about the upgraded hardware/firmware of the entertainment units. And, on contrary, there's still the option for the old $$$ iPhone connectivity kit ... which I thought carplay would obsolete.

That's not to say I'm not quietly optimistic for some consolidation in the market, maybe like onvif for ip cameras, and some other examples; but time will really tell.
True, all I know is apple stuff sometimes has nice things about it, but they always screw it up by gimping it out and doing stupid things and trying to lock you into their ecosystem and then over-pricing it all. There is just too much of a douche-baggy air surrounding apple for me to ever spend my money on it haha.
 

bp2008

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If Apple is actually going to build home automation hardware and not just integrate with others, then maybe it will be faster and more reliable than existing stuff. My z-wave system occasionally delays a command by a second or two, or worse, doesn't get the command through at all. And my dimmer switches can't do instant-on properly. It increases brightness slowly such that if you try to on/off at 100% it takes about 2 seconds to fully power up or power down.

I don't think Apple is going to do dimmer switches and such. It is way outside their area of expertise, and it isn't Apple's style to build something that most of its customers would need a professional installer for. If they go into home automation hardware, it will be stuff like 'smart bulbs' that people simply buy, screw in, and use. Even then the whole idea of 'smart bulbs' is a little nuts to me. If the switch is off, the light is off, and no iPhone app is going to make people stop turning lights off at the switch.
 

hmjgriffon

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If Apple is actually going to build home automation hardware and not just integrate with others, then maybe it will be faster and more reliable than existing stuff. My z-wave system occasionally delays a command by a second or two, or worse, doesn't get the command through at all. And my dimmer switches can't do instant-on properly. It increases brightness slowly such that if you try to on/off at 100% it takes about 2 seconds to fully power up or power down.

I don't think Apple is going to do dimmer switches and such. It is way outside their area of expertise, and it isn't Apple's style to build something that most of its customers would need a professional installer for. If they go into home automation hardware, it will be stuff like 'smart bulbs' that people simply buy, screw in, and use. Even then the whole idea of 'smart bulbs' is a little nuts to me. If the switch is off, the light is off, and no iPhone app is going to make people stop turning lights off at the switch.

It's Apple, they will make stuff simple to use like vera-lite, where it just configures itself, look at the wireless stuff, they have one app that finds all the wireless stuff and configures it for you. I am sure it would be the same, that is their style, buy all of this iCrap, plug it in, add batteries and it will just find each other and work. Probably with the iCloud too, heh heh.
 

LittleBrother

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You already know exactly what they will do. They will come up with something that looks cool "to some people". Something any retard can use. It will be all proprietary so you can only use crapple products with it. It will be horribly limited as to what you can do because crapple knows best. They will horribly over-price it. Oh yeah, they will pretend they invented home automation, like the way they pretended they invented copy and paste on smartphones.
Yes, but it will probably also work quite well--better than most of the half-baked stuff out there already. One of Apple's strengths is not inventing but taking something that has been invented and creating a good product with it. Having an idea is only the first step, packaging it into a product customers genuinely like is another.

Interesting this thread is months old and we still don't know much about this.
 

cerebra

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I'm a little hesitant to go into the home automation market too much at this point with apple's HomeKit just coming out, and a new AppleTV expected in a few months that will be built to be a homekit hub, with integrated Siri support.

I think the home automation market is going to change considerably in the next 12 months, so that buying much today will be similar to buying a tv before the 4k switchover, or perhaps something a bit more significant in terms of buying a fairly pricey product immediately before a rather significant shift in underlying technology.
 
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