Apple is looking for a new leader for its HomeKit teams following the departure of its current director Sam Jadallah. What has gone well over the past few years, and where should Apple go now? I think there is real opportunity in Extend the limits of HomeKit Of course, to bring more significant benefits to product developers and home users, but also to handle more complex needs in offices, factories, transportation and other places. is different.
The story of Jadallah
A former Microsoft corporate vice president and smart home entrepreneur, Jadallah joined Apple in February 2019. His departure was revealed this month.
During its tenure, Apple has made some great changes in its approach to the smart home. Announcement in 2019 of its support for the upcoming Van dyke Accessory connection standards can become one of the most important steps in that time.
It is not the only one.
Apple’s decision to review and improve its specific smart home implementation has made HomeKit even more appealing. Think HomeKit Secure Video, a secure router, new Siri APIs for third-party accessories, and Wallet support for keys are great examples of this.
In all of these cases, Apple has chosen to look at what they have to offer currently and try to move to patch industry demand. We need secure smart home networks, especially if Apple is eyeing moving this plan to more industrial or enterprise uses.
Some aspects of Apple’s approach have not changed much. While they want you to get an Apple TV, HomePod, or iPad to act as the “brain” of any HomeKit implementation, most smart accessories come from third parties, such as Eve. , Belkin, Phillips. At the same time, it is Jadallah’s recognition that Apple’s vision has changed a lot.
But now it has to move more.
Where are we now
Apple focuses on the core of the experience, meaning the hardware and software that run it, and seems to want to outsource development of accessories to these companies.
(And with a limited supply of components by the end of 2022 – especially the types of low-order tech smart accessories that may be required – I think Apple is unlikely to announce any HomeKit accessories.) which self-brand.)
Apple launched HomeKit in 2014. Despite its efforts, HomeKit remains a small name in the smart accessories industry currently dominated by Amazon and Google. For every HomeKit device you can buy, your coins will earn you up to 10 devices from other ecosystems.
This will improve dramatically when Matter arrives next year, as this will allow HomeKit users to also manage other devices through an uncomplicated interface. This will expand the opportunity for consumers to build their own smart home on Apple’s platform, although smart home devices in general are still pretty dumb.
And smart devices aren’t just in the home.
Expand horizons
For me, it’s always been about HomeKit’s vision. A lot has changed since 2014.
Wi-Fi has evolved into Wi-Fi 6, 5G is here, different vendors are building a common global connectivity standard, Matter and situations where automation can make a difference The big difference now extends far beyond the family.
We see smart factories, smart cities, smart agriculture, smart healthcare, smart transportation, etc. HomeKit, or its successor, needs some presence here. It doesn’t need to reinvent those systems, just support the ones that already exist.
We know Apple has some emphasis that smart devices are of much broader strategic importance than just for the home. The company has been explore this space for several years. In 2017, it achieved a industrial partnership with GE, with it iOS for Industry Deal with IBM. Foxconn’s iPhone factories are lots of automation. Apple is making a lot of investments related to this space, as evidenced most recently by a number of solutions supported in Racial Justice and Equality Initiative.
Opportunities for smarter offices also exist.
With Apple continuing to push the enterprise IT space, I think it also makes sense to expand what HomeKit does to cater to this. In the office or remotely, surely there must be a chance for closer integration? Can the information you generate in-house be used in situations (of your choice) outside of it?
In other words, HomeKit needs to answer more questions for more people in more places and more situations.
Where will Puck go?
As for Apple’s current inclusion of Homekit, I think it’s likely that any movement the company wants to make will need to wait until the Matter standard is introduced.
This is because Matter can be thought of as a kind of built-in tool that helps make smart device languages work together better than they do now. Material Standards also need to continue to expand to embrace standards used in enterprise IoT deployments.
I think it’s about embracing a people-centered vision. People don’t just live in homes; they live in offices, factories, on public transport and elsewhere, and many of these environments are becoming increasingly interconnected.
There is an opportunity for HomeKit to be a human-centered system that supports us as we navigate increasingly intelligent and augmented environments – user operating systems for the automated age. Even so, I still enjoy asking my lights to change color.
Follow me on Twitter, or join me in AppleHolic’s Bar & Grill and Discuss Apple group on MeWe.
Copyright © 2021 IDG Communications, Inc.
