The longer Apple’s HomeKit takes to arrive, the longer the ‘connected home’ suffers

Apple’s HomeKit, announced last year at WWDC, has yet to find its way into our homes. Citing sources familiar with Apple’s plans, 9to5Mac has some details on what may be taking so long, including work on a new user-facing “Home” app for iOS:

The Home application is currently represented by a “house” glyph atop a dark yellow background, and is said to be “fairly basic” in its functionality, including:
• Wirelessly discovering and setting up compatible HomeKit devices
• Creating a virtual representation of rooms in the home to easily organize and connect HomeKit devices
• Utilizing the Apple TV as a hub connecting all of the HomeKit devices
• Offering a series of screens to help users find new HomeKit devices and apps

Release of Apple’s HomeKit has taken longer than anyone imagined, and back-end features like room virtualization may be why. I just hope the HomeKit framework encourages more ‘Internet of Things’ components for the home to work together rather than in their own contained environments, much like Google’s ‘Works with Nest‘ program does.

Connected home kit like Simplicam or Canary will find an audience, but they lack a platform to encourage interaction with other devices. If a home security monitor can’t communicate with other items in the home, how connected are they?

While other connected home frameworks exist, Apple’s knack for capturing the spotlight with their products might just slingshot the sector forward.