Apple Homekit

[jkmonroe]

Apple is making their attempt at Home Automation. From my understanding, HA components interface with this new Apple protocol, which allows logic and control via Homekit. Not sure how this will play out, but could be huge.

The example he used in the Keynote speech was "Siri, we are going to bed." and having Siri make sure the garage door is closed, the doors are locked, the lights are dimmed, and the thermostat is turned back.

https://developer.apple.com/library/prer...index.html

[Dean Roddey]

If it depends on the world coming to them, it's doomed, IMO. No one is big enough to make that happen. The world just isn't going to conform to their protocol, so they will inevitably end up with a very limited range of device support. Else, to get around that limitation, they will have to come down from the tower and get their hands dirty, then they are dealing with all the same problems as everyone else. Other companies and consortia in the past have attempted to create a protocol that everyone would use and it never happens, because there are far too many device types and company types creating them, and you can never herd any substantial proportion of them into one corner of the room.

[batwater]

I've also read that while it sounds "big" the initiative is very limited and more like a registration program for vendors to participate, no real "secret sauce" to pull it all together. But then again I missed the Apple Dev event broadcast so who knows if the info is accurate...

So now we have Microsoft and Apple throwing down the gauntlet for Home Automation, uh, the internet of things. This will be interesting.

[LesAuber]

If it's built around Siri my guess is they're doomed. My experience says that if you tell Siri we're going to bed she'd turn on the lights, open the garage door and tell you everything's ready to go for the restaurant you selected.

At least Apple seems have taken out the snooty replies when you tell Siri that she needs to have here ears checked.

[jpsavaria]

I agree with the fact that they will probably not succeed with their proprietary protocol but for now SIRI is WAY ahead of everything existing in terms speech recognition (for consumer market) and voice controlled automation systems are the future so I'm convinced that supporting Apple HomeKit at least only to do speech recognition and being able to send voice commands to CQC would be a huge benefit.
I know that there is support for Amazon Echo but Alexa is really limited compared to the new Apple TV with SIRI.

[Deane Johnson]

I've avoided the Apple Homekit thinking altogether. After using two iPads and an iPhone for multiple years, I'm wanting a more independent approach to home automation.

After I switched from iPad to the MS Surface, I became really convinced it's better to not have Apple deciding what I can and cannot use and do.

My vision is that of Mel Gibson in Braveheart shouting FREEDOM.

[potts.mike]

Did everyone see the homekit news from WWDC? Apple is removing the authentication chip requirement, meaning it can be done in software, and they have published all the protocols for hobbyists to develop their own integrations. For a product to be commercially sold it still needs mFi certification but otherwise the system has been opened up. It seems that as long as Dean didn't write the driver it could be possible to use CQC to expose devices to Homekit.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/homekit
https://developer.apple.com/homekit/