Smart technology has begun to revolutionize the way that homeowners interact with their homes, says Redfin contributor Emma Bailey. Some key players have emerged on the smart home front, including Amazon, Google, and Apple. Apple, which found success first with MP3 players and then with smartphones, made it’s debut into the smart home market last year with the release of the Home app for the Apple HomeKit platform. Here’s how the tech company is navigating the smart home space, and what kind of competition it’s up against. Bailey writes:
Apple’s HomeKit platform seeks to provide a single overarching ecosystem within which all sorts of smart devices can coexist in harmony. Provided a device was made HomeKit-compatible by its manufacturer, it’s ready to integrate with the existing HomeKit hub setup. After this, users can simply begin interacting with the Home app or by talking to Apple’s digital voice assistant, Siri, to enact precise control over every room in the house.
While there is a lot to like about the HomeKit and Home app from Apple, this tech giant isn’t the only player in this long game. Amazon’s Echo has been wildly successful since its introduction thanks to its ability to control a wide selection of smart products via a demure speaker hub. The Samsung SmartThings platform, while missing the charm of an Alexa or Siri-like voice assistant, is perhaps the most reliable and widely supported home automation system currently available. It works with a whole host of communication standards, making it an excellent choice if anyone who intends to piece together their smart home systems from an assortment of vendors and devices.
In Apple’s case, because smart products need to be specifically made HomeKit-compatible, the list of supported devices is currently smaller than for other smart home systems. The HomeKit also requires that an Apple TV or other supported device be left at home in order to communicate with the system while users are away, which may be a deterrent for some. Nonetheless, the HomeKit system is already becoming more established, and the list of compatible devices continues to grow rapidly. With deep integration into the recently released iOS 10 and a continued focus on security and protection of privacy, the HomeKit offer compelling advantages over similar cloud-based competitors.
