Apple's HomeKit MFi program only began in November, chips still being finalized

Manufacturers of "connected home" devices that wish to integrate with HomeKit reportedly could not begin seeking certification for those products under Apple's MFi program until November, some six months after the initiative was announced.

Adding to the delay, chipmaker Broadcom — Â long a supplier of authentication processors for Apple's MFi programs — Â has yet to finalize the software for its HomeKit chips and has been working to enable HomeKit on previous-generation silicon, according to Re/code. Apple is said to have waited until October to supply Broadcom with its specifications.

Apple is believed to be taking only a "rather modest" cut from the HomeKit MFi program, in contrast to previous efforts. Some third-party manufacturers have complained about Apple's licensing fees in the past, with the approximately $20-per-device AirPlay overhead a particularly troublesome item.

The company lowered fees for Lighntning accessories early last year, moving from a percentage of compatible products' retail price to a flat $4 per-connector cost. There is no word on what costs companies will incur for HomeKit.

"Like AirPlay, Apple wants very tight tolerances to deliver what they believe to be the best experience," Moor Insights & Strategy analyst Patrick Moorhead told the publication. "On one hand, the slower time to market is annoying, but given the fact that AirPlay works well and everyone knows it, it make sense. Apple is trying to 'fix' what a plethora of companies haven't gotten right, yet."

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15 Comments

boeyc15

said about 9 years ago

I'm waiting patiently Apple. No hurry.... Take you time.... Do'h... no I cannot wait, can't stand it,hurry up apple, Im starting to buy non- approved products.

nobodyy

said about 9 years ago

STANDARDIZATION and COMMITMENT are two big factors in many Apple rollouts involving other companies in which own their and their products' reputations are up for the trial by extension.

sflocal

said about 9 years ago

I would rather Apple take its time to get it right, than to do what everyone else does and just throw crappy products out there and wait for a "firmware update" to resolve what should have been in place to begin with.

I love AirPlay. Last thing Apple would want is for anything to come in and make it a PC experience where nothing works right.

eightzero

said about 9 years ago

OK, I have a serious question about how this is supposed to work:

I have a stairway in my home that has simple incandescent/LED fixtures. It is controlled by a 3 way house wiring system, in that one switch at the bottom of the stairs can control the lights on/off independent of the position of the upstairs switch. The upstairs switch functions identically. It think this kind of thing is common, and I have another similar set up involving lights in a room - the ceiling lights have a switch by the door, and another by the bed.

Without changing that functionality, I'd like to add some sort of remote control via iPhone or mobile device. It seems as if the standalone bulbs that are now being offered can't work - once installed, they would need to be manipulated by the remote device only. For obvious reasons, this is unacceptable. The remote must always defer to activation/deactivation by the switch on the wall. But, I see no way around it with current offerings.

For a single light in a single switch box, the Wemo wall switch is perfect. But they do not have a three-way product, nor or that can bee added to a multiple switch box. It also appears they are not intending to develop one.

It seems that a lot of this "connected home" is very niche applications; or requires essentially new home strategic design. It doesn't appear to be much "plug and play" kind of stuff - either in existence or even planned.

michael_c

said about 9 years ago

[quote name="eightzero" url="/t/184475/apples-homekit-mfi-program-only-began-in-november-chips-still-being-finalized#post_2665728"]OK, I have a serious question about how this is supposed to work: I have a stairway in my home that has simple incandescent/LED fixtures. It is controlled by a 3 way house wiring system, in that one switch at the bottom of the stairs can control the lights on/off independent of the position of the upstairs switch. The upstairs switch functions identically. It think this kind of thing is common, and I have another similar set up involving lights in a room - the ceiling lights have a switch by the door, and another by the bed. Without changing that functionality, I'd like to add some sort of remote control via iPhone or mobile device. It seems as if the standalone bulbs that are now being offered can't work - once installed, they would need to be manipulated by the remote device only. For obvious reasons, this is unacceptable. The remote must always defer to activation/deactivation by the switch on the wall. But, I see no way around it with current offerings. For a single light in a single switch box, the Wemo wall switch is perfect. But they do not have a three-way product, nor or that can bee added to a multiple switch box. It also appears they are not intending to develop one. It seems that a lot of this "connected home" is very niche applications; or requires essentially new home strategic design. It doesn't appear to be much "plug and play" kind of stuff - either in existence or even planned. [/quote] I use Insteon devices, Universal Devices ISY 994i Pro, and MobiLinc (for the iDevice Control), and it's very doable. I don't know if a similar approach could be done with Wemo devices, but easy to accomplish with the equipment I am using. I have converted some three way lights to accomplish the job, and with the ISY controller can give additional functionality. You can pretty much do anything you can think of with this setup. For example a single push of the entry room's on/off switch to 'on' position will turn an outdoor porch light on. If I press 'on', a second time, within 3 seconds, all outdoor lights which lead from the entry to the driveway will come on - that includes pathway lights, lights around the courtyard, lights on the garage and light posts along the driveway. A single press 'off' will turn everything off. I arbitrarily chose 3 seconds, but could be however you programmed. See http://homeautomationguru.com/wiring-3-way-insteon-switches/ for one way to accomplish.