Apple to Launch New 'Smart Home' Platform at WWDC

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Apple will launch a new software platform that will let the iPhone directly control lights, security systems and other household gadgets at WWDC next week, according to a report from The Financial Times.

The piece claims Apple will make a "big play" in smart home technology by working with device makers give them official approval, like the "Made for iPhone" program does for some accessories like headphones and speaker docks, and software support in iOS 8.

Nest Thermostat

The scheme will be similar to Apple’s existing “Made for iPhone” label, given to compatible headphones, speakers and other accessories, but with a new brand and logo. Apple may also provide additional checks and assurances that certified products are not vulnerable to hackers.

The Cupertino-based company was likely to emphasise the privacy protections built into its smart home system, one person familiar with Apple’s plans told the FT, given heightened sensitivity about technology companies’ access to personal information amid revelations about US intelligence agencies’ online surveillance programmes.

The piece notes that plans can always change, but that Apple has launched a number of initiatives over the past year or two, including CarPlay and iBeacon, to expand the reach of the iPhone and have it interact more with the real world and other electronic devices in it.

Apple's retail stores sell a number of different components of the so-called "Internet of Things", including the Google-owned Nest Thermostat (pictured above), Philips Hue lightbulbs and Belkin WeMo Wi-Fi enabled light switches.

Related Forum: Apple, Inc and Tech Industry

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Top Rated Comments

H
HenryDJP
153 months ago
As a stockholder I am pretty excited about the coming WWDC.... :apple::apple:

Hate to break it to ya Mr. Stockholder, I have yet to see the stocks increase after any Apple Keynote no matter how awesome the product is.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2
2984839
153 months ago
A Google shower would make you sign in to Google+, track how many times per day you shower, then sell it to advertisers.

A Facebook shower would have a camera watch you so you can share it with your friends

An Apple shower would only work with an obscure showerhead that uses a non-standard connection, would be no longer supported after 5 years, and would force you to buy a new home to upgrade.

A Linux shower would require that you first spend 40 years becoming a master plumber, carpenter, engineer, and electrician, renovate your entire house from the ground up to install it, and would not be compatible with your utility company's water.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Traverse Avatar
Traverse
153 months ago
And then my house can be hacked! :eek:

They could *gulp* raise my temperature and run up my electric bill...or, or, or turn of the lights when I'm walking and I fall! ;)
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pgiguere1 Avatar
pgiguere1
153 months ago
Good. The biggest problem with domotics today, IMO, is not the hardware, but rather the software and integration.

Each manufacturer will make you use their own app to control their hardware, making it way more complicated than it should. The simplicity that domotics may provide is partially cancelled out by the learning curve/poor integration of the software it comes with.

Apple and Google will probably both offer software that unifies all "smart home" controls inside a single app/service, which is exactly what we need. The fact those two big players will be competing also means consumers will benefit more in the end, especially since Google's solution will probably be available on iOS.

Looks like what was originally a futuristic dream (for decades) will finally catch on with mainstream consumers. I'm excited to see where this will go, and how exactly this will integrate with Apple's business model. Google will obviously collect data. Apple may just lock you further in the iOS ecosystem, making sure you keep buying their hardware and MFi accessories.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
T
The Phazer
153 months ago
The piece claims Apple will make a "big play" in smart home technology by working with device makers give them official approval, like the "Made for iPhone" program does for some accessories like headphones and speaker docks

You mean the Made for iPhone program that took the huge ecosystem advantage Apple had in speaker accessories and combined with Lightning completely blew it by being hard to work with and stupidly expensive?

Or the one that killed the iOS controller marketplace stone dead by mandating poor quality suppliers and making the offerings stupidly overpriced so it never got going?

This initiative is dead at birth if it's related to Made for iPhone.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I
iLoveiTunes
153 months ago
As a stockholder I am pretty excited about the coming WWDC.... :apple::apple:
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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