Does Apple Have What it Takes for the Smart Home Market?

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“Along with HealthKit, one of the marquee features announced with the launch of iOS 8 was Apple’s HomeKit, a home automation framework designed to get separate smart home devices talking to each other, all controlled centrally by a iPhone or iPad,” Jo Best reports for ZDNet.

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“With the home automation market set to be worth $71bn by 2018, according to Juniper Research, it’s no surprise that Apple is interested in staking its claim to the smart home in the same way it has the smartphone,” Best reports. “But for a long time after HomeKit launched, there was little sign of an ecosystem building around it or high profile supporters.”

“Now, however, the first wave of HomeKit hardware products by third-party manufacturers are beginning to hit the shelves: the last couple of weeks have seen Philips launch its HomeKit Hue Bridge for controlling home lighting, while August has unveiled a HomeKit-connected door lock. These products join a handful of others from companies including Ecobee, Honeywell, Incipio, Insteon, and Lutron,” Best reports. “With the software in place and hardware now trickling out, are we seeing the first coming of HomeKit – or a platform that’s yet to, and may never, catch on? NextMarket Insights is predicting the former, with 180 million HomeKit devices shipped by 2020. ‘Apple’s track record of creating excitement for nascent markets is unparalleled,’ Michael Wolf, the company’s chief analyst, wrote in a recent blog.”

Read more in the full article here.

Source: MacDailyNews.com