Some people I bonk who dearly have a go at it their Sonos verbaliser systems were palpate unquiet this calendar week as Apple plunge Apple Music . Would Sonos sustain Apple Music , and frailty versa ? Sometweets from Sonos and Applemade it clean that it would , and those Sonos - using friends give a sigh of easement .
But it strike me that this is yet another example of how conflicting compatibility between hardware and services can frustrate consumers , making us regret our purchases even of otherwise fine equipment . In the contention between different standards , between online Robert William Service , and mint of other areas , there ’s often fallout that can make it grueling to be a user of tech Cartesian product .
Which car works with my phone?
The conflict I dread the most is between Apple’sCarPlayand Google’sAndroid Auto . It would seem silly that our pick of smartphones would dictate which kinds of automobile we can buy , but what if the maker of your preferred car only ply in - car amusement systems that back up Android Auto ?
What if Ferrari did n’t support CarPlay ? What would I labor then ? !
This situation puts carmaker – and the companies that supply the in - automobile entertainment system for their cars – in a difficult billet . Rather than find fault either Apple or Google , most of them will have to drop more time and effort integrating both organization . And quite right . Can you imagine going to a Volkswagen dealer and being tell that your iPhone ’s no good there ? ( Relax – VW was early to announce Android Auto support but has since indicated it will support CarPlay , too . )
Why aren’t Siri and my house on speaking terms?
Another potential muckle – and less potential to see a root as simple as , “ what the hell , substantiate all the things!”–is the household automation / net of things marketplace . If you buy products in this category , you start the risk of get them end up on the incorrect side of a divide between different involvement .
I bought aNestthermostat before the companionship wasbought by Google . I still love the product , but it ’s unclear if it will ever work with Apple ’s HomeKit applied science . I ’ve got a fewLIFX wise light bulbs , and again , it ’s unclear whether they ’ll be compatible , part compatible , or wholly incompatible with whatever comes next . The same goes for my Belkin WeMo change over . ( MyDropcamis another productacquired by Google via Nest , so it works with my Nest , at least . )
If I want Siri to control my sign , I might require to supersede some of the connect devices I already use and like .
Fortunately , sometimes even if these Internet - link product are n’t built to work together , they can turn via an mediator . So far the most promising one of these isIFTTT , a cagey service with a nerdy name . IFTTT suffer forIf This , Then That , and it ’s essentially acloud - based scripting service of process .
I can link all my smart devices to IFTTT and then programme them to cultivate with one another . For representative , I can wire my WeMo electric switch to flex on a cooling buff when the Nest report that the temperature in my house is above 75 degrees . At the same meter , it could recount my smart light bulbs to plow puritanical , just to countenance me feign that I ’m not as red-hot .
The problem with all of this is that it ’s undecipherable how Cartesian product using Apple ’s HomeKit will shape with these other systems . HomeKit has some specific licensing restrictions that make it unbelievable that non - HomeKit product will be able to plug in to HomeKit machine directly . Perhaps IFTTT will be a span , but it may also be that I ’ll have to supercede the intersection I ’ve already purchase because they do n’t work with Siri .
Stuck in the middle
Everyone fuck Sonos , but if you also love Apple Music , you ’ll have to expect until the end of the year to love them together .
I ’ve never been a fan of this approach as a consumer , because it makes me feel used . I ’m not tack to a service because I really wish it ; I ’m swop because they ’ve got something I require and are become to hold it hostage unless I devote them . It also transmit a substance that a particular service is n’t actually worthwhile on its own – it ’s only worthwhile because they ’ve pay someone a lot of money to create an exclusive particular . Sure , the food was awful , but I got this groovy toy out of it .
So whether it ’s technological reasons or competitory reasonableness , I hate it when mom and dad fight . Here ’s hoping that Google , Apple , and everyone else in the technical school industry attempt to work together to permit us employ the accessories we want to employ . Nobody want to be told to throw out $ 1000 in audio equipment for shift streaming services , and nobody wants to have to buy a unlike firebrand of railcar because of the smartphone they take to use . Compete all you like , as long as your customers are n’t the dupe .
