Higginbotham generally knows what she’s talking about, she’s one of the industry’s more savvy analysts, and in this case she notes that the smart home concept isn’t dead, but the emphasis is changing. And I think that’s true.
I feel like the retail model just got stuck at the early adopter phase," said Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research. “Installing these products is hard and expensive, and the value proposition isn’t all that clear.”
The main point goes along with what we were discussing in the Kia thread: that it looks like Apple is aiming for a “smarter” home, not the fully automated smart home the industry had previously been discussing.
That is, you take an existing device like a lightbulb or thermostat or light switch and replace it with something that adds a practical desirable feature, like simple schedules or voice control.
But Apple, and some of the companies profiled in this feature, are not looking at the six layer deep private variable interlocking conditionals that are needed for a truly smart home. But that also trip up a lot of people.
Also note that the feature calls out the monthly subscription plans from the cable and security company. Many people in this forum tend to dismiss those immediately, but the fact is there are literally millions more of those systems installed today then of all the DIY home automation systems put together. Their rules engines are simpler, the device selection is much smaller, and there is a monthly fee of around $40 – – but millions of people are willing to pay for that convenience and reliability.
Apple is betting that the DIY market will pay a premium for a similar level of functionality and simplicity, as long as they get the reliability and security to go along with it.
We’ll have to wait until the end of this year to see if ios 10 and the new home app give HomeKit any traction, but it’s a bet that’s in line with other industry trends as discussed in this article.
It’s not the Jetsons. But maybe it’s the equivalent of a garage door remote. Simplicity has value, too. 