Thinka on Tuesday took the wraps off the first Z-Wave hub for HomeKit, bringing support for more than 3,300 new accessories to Apple's smart home platform.
Thinka Z-Wave hub for HomeKit
The new Apple-certified Thinka Z-Wave is a simple hub that allows many Z-Wave accessories to work with HomeKit for the first time. This includes smart switches, thermostats, dimmers, doorbells, speakers, curtains, fans, dimmers and various sensors from over 600 different brands.
"90% of all HomeKit accessories are based on WiFi or Bluetooth, which, unlike the Z-wave protocol, are not optimized for home automation," said Thinka founder and CEO Michael Franken. "Z-Wave offers a full range of over 3,000 smart home products, so by unlocking Z-Wave for HomeKit, Thinka brings the best of two worlds together"
Thinka Z-Wave hub for HomeKit
Unlike Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Z-Wave was designed for smart home automation and has existed far longer than the emerging Thread standard. It is optimized for range and is extremely power efficient. Thinka touts Z-Wave as the protocol with the largest product range, and now those devices will work with HomeKit.
Prior to the Z-Wave hub, Thinka's first product was a KNX hub that works with HomeKit.
The Amsterdam-based company is launching the Thinka Z-Wave in Europe for 429 euros before coming to the United States next year.