The Information reports that Amazon is gaining an edge on Apple with smart home builders so AI uses it as an opportunity to smear Amazon and accuse the company of surveillance. Why am I not surprised. OK AI if Amazon is such a bad actor that people will need to “rip microphones out of their own ceilings” why isn’t Apple doing more to court home builders to make HomeKit and Siri the preferred platform for smart homes? Also why does AI have such a bias against data? Companies using data to provide better products/services isn’t a bad thing. I think we all know if Apple was the leader in this space AI wouldn’t be complaining and certainly wouldn’t be calling it “surveillance”.
Lol Apple is not selling your data like Amazon, Google & Facebook.
No I would not buy a home with Amazon, Google or Facebook Mics built in.
In the long run, I believe that Apple and HomeKit have lost the battle in home automation.
Like VHS vs Betamax- while Beta was a superior product offering, it lost to VHS due to VHS starting out making two smart moves. 1. A 2 hour movie would fit on a VHS tape, initially Beta held less. 2. Onerous licensing to use the Beta format.
. I think Amazon is just out Hustling Apple on the HomeKit front. Its more like Apple is sitting on their throne waiting for manufacturers to come to them , but Amazon seems to be going after everyone. Even google is trying to keep up with them.
Actually, a case could be made that the major reason VHS won was because porn decided to use VHS. Not the only reason, of course, and for reasons that relate to both of the reasons you gave, but without that impetus, Betamax might still have won.
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Uh-Oh. Apple doesn't allow Porn Apps in the Apps Store. It's doomed.
Amazon is just killing it! This company is everywhere and into everything! They are genius! This company must have some pretty incredible income and must be one of the most profitable companies on the face of the planet...
This article is a glass half-empty perspective that misses some brutal limitations of Apple's current offerings. I believe Amazon is more than a few steps ahead of Apple along the path to providing real-world implementations of usable Ambient Intelligence environments - which is something Amazon seems focused on with laser like intensity... ...
My response is that the world is quite complicated, technology trends and societal attitudes can change quickly, and grand master plans can amount to nought (Microsoft had many grand plans on how to dominate the computing and consumer electronic markets for the foreseeable future).
Sometimes not ploughing ahead into chaos is the right path...and sometimes being bold is. All depends on circumstances. Should Apple have gone all in with netbooks, cheap phones, cheap video streamers, dropped the Apple Watch, and confronted the Echo with cheap Siri speakers, like the vast majority of the punditry proclaimed? With the exception of the last one (the jury is still out...too early), it is pretty clear that Apple made the right choice (for Apple).
Also consider - Apple can't fight every battle - in fact that is one of the key attributes of the company DNA. Right now IMO they see a much clearer path in wearables and a future with AR, and this is where they are placing their bets. HomeKit and HomePod (and AppleTV) are indeed relatively constrained approaches to the home...but perhaps that is what is best for Apple for the next 5 years to see how things play out.
The point of Amazon's Alexa is that they don't want to be integrated into either iOS or Android - they exist as a platform that works with either, but also can be completely independent of either.
Lennar wants to sell homes that work for all customers. Installing HomeKit systems in Lennar homes presumes homebuyers only have iOS devices, or that Android homebuyers should have a lesser experience (many HomeKit devices work with Android apps, but on Android, you have to install all the apps for each device, and use them independently, rather than in automation routines or groups, as Alexa and HomeKit allow.)
It just makes sense for Lennar to sell in Alexa in order to have a competitive advantage with the widest number of homebuyers, who will all have the same experience. Additionally, Lennar promises Amazon Employee smart home support. With HomeKit, who was going to provide that support? Not Apple.
FWIW, many of the Alexa-compatible devices are also compatible with HomeKit, so if you moved into one of these homes with an AppleTV, iPad or HomePod, you could, for the most part, get it all going without the Echo devices.
Honeywell Lyric Round: check Lutron Smart Bridge: get the Caseta Wireless bridge, check Ring video doorbell: they keep promising, remains to be seen Samsung SmartThings Hub: nope Sonos One: nope, but it can play Apple Music Baldwin Evolved deadbolt: This is the same as the Kwikset Kevo series. Bluetooth, and no HomeKit.
Unless this were optional and I could have mine built WITHOUT Alexa crap, it would be a deal breaker for me. I will not live in a house with spyware installed by default. And to be honest, I don't care if it's Alexa, HomeKit, Google, or whomever. Just no.
You have to set up the Alexa devices with your own Amazon account. You don't want to use this stuff? Don't set up the Alexa app.
None of the devices have Alexa built in other than the Echo Show and Echo Dot. Unplug the Echo Show and Echo Dot and the rest of the devices aren't sending anything back to Amazon.
Don't set up the apps that control those devices (Honeywell Lyric - you can use it like a plain old thermostat if you don't want to set up the Honeywell app and account.)
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...oh...never mind...
Sometimes not ploughing ahead into chaos is the right path...and sometimes being bold is. All depends on circumstances. Should Apple have gone all in with netbooks, cheap phones, cheap video streamers, dropped the Apple Watch, and confronted the Echo with cheap Siri speakers, like the vast majority of the punditry proclaimed? With the exception of the last one (the jury is still out...too early), it is pretty clear that Apple made the right choice (for Apple).
Also consider - Apple can't fight every battle - in fact that is one of the key attributes of the company DNA. Right now IMO they see a much clearer path in wearables and a future with AR, and this is where they are placing their bets. HomeKit and HomePod (and AppleTV) are indeed relatively constrained approaches to the home...but perhaps that is what is best for Apple for the next 5 years to see how things play out.
Echo Dot
Echo Show
Baldwin Evolved - doesn't appear to be it may work in the future
Leviton stuff with Zwave
Samsung SmartThings
HomeKit Compatible
Honeywell Lyric
Lutron Caseta
HomeKit support supposedly coming
Ring Pro Doorbell
Sonos One
Lennar wants to sell homes that work for all customers. Installing HomeKit systems in Lennar homes presumes homebuyers only have iOS devices, or that Android homebuyers should have a lesser experience (many HomeKit devices work with Android apps, but on Android, you have to install all the apps for each device, and use them independently, rather than in automation routines or groups, as Alexa and HomeKit allow.)
It just makes sense for Lennar to sell in Alexa in order to have a competitive advantage with the widest number of homebuyers, who will all have the same experience. Additionally, Lennar promises Amazon Employee smart home support. With HomeKit, who was going to provide that support? Not Apple.
FWIW, many of the Alexa-compatible devices are also compatible with HomeKit, so if you moved into one of these homes with an AppleTV, iPad or HomePod, you could, for the most part, get it all going without the Echo devices.
Honeywell Lyric Round: check
Lutron Smart Bridge: get the Caseta Wireless bridge, check
Ring video doorbell: they keep promising, remains to be seen
Samsung SmartThings Hub: nope
Sonos One: nope, but it can play Apple Music
Baldwin Evolved deadbolt: This is the same as the Kwikset Kevo series. Bluetooth, and no HomeKit.