Apple HomeKit

After HomeKit, Here's Where Apple Should Go Next With Smart Home

After a full week of speculation about what Apple AAPL +0.35% may have up their smart home sleeves, the company quietly introduced HomeKit at their Worldwide Developer’s Conference.

While some who wanted a more full throated entrance into the smart home by Apple saw HomeKit as a disappointment, I think it was a logical first step. 

So what is HomeKit? In short, it’s an iOS software framework that enables discovery and control of third party connected devices by an iOS device like an iPhone. It will allow multiple devices to be controlled by a central app, which may help alleviate some of the smart device app overload some early adopters are feeling, since most “point solution” devices today like smart locks and smart lights are mainly controlled through a purpose built app.

Like I said,  a good, but limited, first step.  But one can’t help but wonder where Apple may go next with its smart home aspirations.

Here are a few suggestions:

Unleash Apple TV

With HomeKit, they’ve enabled your iPhone to become a smart home controller, but in reality that’s a limited vision, as a fully realized smart home has a central control hub that is persistently there. That’s where Apple TV could come in. With 10 million devices shipping in just the last year, there’s already a pretty large installed base of the devices in the market, and with news that Apple has filed a patent for a smart home control hub, it’s logical to think that device could in fact be the Apple TV.

I think at some point Apple will indeed look to upgrade the Apple TV to incorporate it as part of their smart home vision. The only question to me is when.

Utilize iBeacon

One of Apple’s most interesting technologies is iBeacon, which is a Bluetooth low energy location tracking system which the company has so far only pushed into retail based environments. However, one can imagine the power of an iBeacon-enabled smart home, where consumers can have their connected devices react to their presence and location automatically. Scenarios such as a consumer arriving home, iBeacon announcing their presence, and an Apple smart home turning on systems like lights and air conditioning is not unrealistic to imagine.

Incorporate An Apple Wearable As Part of Smart Home 

While the iWatch is still only a figment of our collective imagination, I still have a strong suspicion that Apple is working on some kind of wearable.  With Apple’s new focus on continuity, I can imagine that an Apple wearable device like an iWatch would be another screen and control point for HomeKit enabled devices.  A wearable could also be a source of information about the consumer, utilizing not only location information (through iBeacon), but also telling the smart home whether they’ve just finished a work out.

In short, HomeKit was a small but significant first step for Apple into the smart home, but it was likely just that: a first step. It will be interesting to see where the company takes its smart home plans from here.