AppleInsider podcast at CES talks Apple HomeKit, tech trends, and the struggle to ship

This week on the AppleInsider podcast, Victor talks to Neil from Vegas, the site of CES, about Apple-connected announcements from the show, and what are some of the best and worst products seen at the 2017 event.

AppleInsider editors Neil Hughes and Victor Marks talk tabout:

Apple's presence (and lack thereof) at CES
New HomeKit products announced
What is CES for?
Trends at this year's show
What happens for products that never ship?

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2 Comments

dachar 330 comments · 11 Years

About 7 years ago

Referring to your comments about Tado not having HomeKit yet, I have had a Tado heating system for 2 years and ordered the upgraded bridge with HomeKit support last summer.

Last year Tado were indicating that the HomeKit bridge would ship in the Autumn but it has not. Tado say the reason for the delay is that "the certification process with Apple is still ongoing which is why we do not have an exact shipment date yet."

Are Apple causing bottlenecks with HomeKit approvals? Your reports from CES suggest that some products may be coming out with HomeKit at last. Are they Apple HomeKit certified and approved or also just pending awaiting Apple's approval sometime in the future?

If Apple is serious about HomeKit they should be providing the best support they can for the manufactures. For Tado it appears that the approval process has been outstanding for many months which may have caused delays in bringing their HomeKit product to the market. Meanwhile Tado's hardware support for Amazon Alexia has been available of 6 months or more. From what i have read there are far more Alexia comparable products the Apple HomeKit being shown at CES.

k2kw 2079 comments · 11 Years

About 7 years ago

dachar said:

Referring to your comments about Tado not having HomeKit yet, I have had a Tado heating system for 2 years and ordered the upgraded bridge with HomeKit support last summer.

Last year Tado were indicating that the HomeKit bridge would ship in the Autumn but it has not. Tado say the reason for the delay is that "the certification process with Apple is still ongoing which is why we do not have an exact shipment date yet."

Are Apple causing bottlenecks with HomeKit approvals? Your reports from CES suggest that some products may be coming out with HomeKit at last. Are they Apple HomeKit certified and approved or also just pending awaiting Apple's approval sometime in the future?

If Apple is serious about HomeKit they should be providing the best support they can for the manufactures. For Tado it appears that the approval process has been outstanding for many months which may have caused delays in bringing their HomeKit product to the market. Meanwhile Tado's hardware support for Amazon Alexia has been available of 6 months or more. From what i have read there are far more Alexia comparable products the Apple HomeKit being shown at CES.

I recommend getting the Echo. I used to think that Apple was going to be the leader in home automation when they came out with HomeKit. Now it appears to be another product that Apple has just let languish. Manufacturer's know that the income profile of Apple customers is high enough to afford these new products but Apple
needs to make it cheaper, smaller, and easier to implement otherwise Manufacturers can switch to just integration with Alexa.