A few weeks back , I have an Amazon Echo , that outre product that ’s part Bluetooth speaker , part Siri . As fascinating as I ’ve found this contrivance , one feature in particular has been an eye - opener : desegregation with Belkin ’s WeMo home automation devices .
My true small apartment has just a single WeMo timekeeper , which I use to release on and off a floor lamp in my situation . For the most part it works whole transparently — until I postulate to overrule the automatic agenda and move around it on and off . Then I have to feel my phone , unlock it , chance the WeMo app , launch it , await for it to connect , and eventually solicit the On / Off push button next to my lamp .
That ’s where the Amazon Echo simplifies things . alternatively , I can now simply say “ Alexa , call on on the light . ” Bam . Done .
Apple , of course , has its own promise home automation integration . Last year at its Worldwide Developer Conference , it announcedHomeKit , a platform target at makers of smart home gearthat place to tie all those devices together and have you operate them through a familiar interface — Siri .
But nearly twelve month since the declaration of HomeKit , acceptance has still been pretty sparse . ( And according to a Fortune scoop , we may have to wait a piffling longer . ) Chip - maker Broadcom announced just this week that it was baking support for HomeKit right into its Wi - Fi and Bluetooth circuitry , but gadget using those chipsets wo n’t rack up the market place for a while yet . Belkin , which make some of the more accessible and low-priced household automation geared wheel , promised it would tally support for HomeKit to its WeMo gimmick “ in the very near future ” … back in January .
Meanwhile , the Amazon Echo has already give me a taste of what Apple ’s promising to fetch down the road . Consider my appetency whetted .
Hardware for the home
To my intellect , part of why HomeKit has n’t yet really seize the attention of the mainstream consumer is that Apple has yet to make a compelling typeface for it . The ship’s company succeeds undecomposed when it couple its knack for software with its faultless eye for hardware , and HomeKit does n’t currently have a compelling oh - wow example for most users — in large part because Apple is n’t producing its own HomeKit computer hardware .
Not long after the introduction of HomeKit , my erstwhile colleague Chris Breen indicate that perhapsthe Apple TV was ideally positioned to evolve into a fresh home hub . later on report suggested theApple TV will play as the Wi - Fi bridgebetween Bluetooth - connected HomeKit devices and your iPhone when it ’s out of mountain range . And do n’t draw a blank , new Apple TV hardwareis bruit to be coming soon .
The Apple TV has Bluetooth to communicate with your HomeKit devices , Wi - Fi to connect to your iPhone when you ’re away from home , and it ’s always on . Perfect .
While it might seem like cram two disparate twist into one , there are a few advantages to building HomeKit keep into the Apple TV . For one , the Apple TV concept is proven . It ’s a equipment that trade . market a standalone domicile mechanisation equipment is a foxy twist to sell — nor is it really necessary . The whole compass point of the HomeKit political platform is that it ’s handle mostly by software . Why create another equipment when we already have a relatively powerful , DOE effective , always - on go down - top boxwood that connects to our home connection ?
All that stay is to provide an user interface for command our smart home gadget . And if I ’ve watch anything from the Amazon Echo , it ’s that vocalization control condition for abode automation devices is passably heavy .
Talk to me
As impressed as I ’ve been with Alexa , the intelligent assistant that “ lives ” in the Amazon Echo , it sometimes seems like much more of a robot than Siri . Many enquiry befuddle Alexa , prompting a “ I did n’t empathize the question you ask ” reply that Siri seems to avoid at all costs .
I ca n’t wait to use Siri to control my home , but it ’ll be even good if she ’s always listening , and not just on my iPhone and Apple Watch .
But though I reckon Siri is in general sharp , Alexa ’s reward is that it ’s always around you , quick to be prompted . Despite its stationary nature , it seemslesstethered to a machine than Siri . you could enquire it questions even when you ’re a few rooms aside , or if you have your hands full .
And if we ’re going to shortly draw near the gunpoint where our houses are full of automated gear , we do n’t always want to have to achieve to our iPhone — or even our Apple Watch — to , say , turn on the lights . In that case , Siri should be at our beck and call , no matter where in our house we are .
So , in kernel , I ’m rooting for a Siri that ’s everywhere , whether I ’m using my Apple Watch , my iPhone , my Mac , or even my Apple TV . That would make Siri as much a slice of the place automation as my WeMo light timer , a smart light bulb , or a even a Wi - Fi - enable coffee maker .
Home run
Smart home technology in general is still in its early Clarence Day . There are a lot of competing standards and no absolved winner . By exact the time to slowly dwell the groundwork for HomeKit , Apple has a chance to get in at the — if you ’ll pardon the reflection — ground level .
And I ’d contend it ’s already have a branch up . More than perhaps any other tech fellowship , Apple is already a part of adult swaths of our home life . The query , to me , is whether it can take all of those disparate technologies and compound them into a meaningful whole . Because in the same way that a house is more than just a collection of way , a successful bright home is going to be more than just a collection of gadgets .
