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."