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Apple branching into home automation

a_riot42a_riot42 Posts: 1,624
in AMX General Discussion
Microsoft tried and failed as have others, and now both Google and Apple are going to take a stab at it. With these behemoths in the HA area, I wonder what will happen to Craptron, AMX etc? Personally I wouldn't want to see Google ads on my touch panels in my house, or have Apple spy on me and forward security camera video to the NSA on request but that's just me. Anyone have any predictions on how this foray into HA is going to go down by the two juggernauts of tech?
Paul

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    ericmedleyericmedley Posts: 4,177
    a_riot42 wrote: »
    Microsoft tried and failed as have others, and now both Google and Apple are going to take a stab at it. With these behemoths in the HA area, I wonder what will happen to Craptron, AMX etc? Personally I wouldn't want to see Google ads on my touch panels in my house, or have Apple spy on me and forward security camera video to the NSA on request but that's just me. Anyone have any predictions on how this foray into HA is going to go down by the two juggernauts of tech?
    Paul

    I can't imagine Savant is happy about it, unless they were bought out to do it. I know I'm moving 100 % away from Resi.
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    a_riot42a_riot42 Posts: 1,624
    ericmedley wrote: »
    I can't imagine Savant is happy about it, unless they were bought out to do it. I know I'm moving 100 % away from Resi.

    I wonder if Apple will try and put the kibosh on what Savant does so that they can't compete with their own product. I don't see why they would bother buying Savant, Apple would build things from the ground up I would think.
    Paul
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    DHawthorneDHawthorne Posts: 4,584
    Savant is very much in bed with Apple. Their host processors are Mac Mini's, and they use iOS devices almost exclusively for UIs. You can even buy Apple products from Savant at the same price as an Apple Store. There are three possibilities I can see here: (1) it's really not Apple doing this, but Savant doing an Apple-branded system. This would however, be in total violation of the spirit of Savant's exclusivity agreements with their dealers. (2) There is no significant overlap and they will be non-competing products. (3) Apple is totally screwing Savant over - in which case, the Savant-Apple deals in place may be in jeopardy. I can't rule out a combination of any of those three.

    This has been the direction a lot of companies have been going, and the days when you could get resi customers to pay for expensive custom code are pretty much gone. But in the past, most turn-key solutions have failed because they haven't been able to fill every niche a high-end customer wants filled. It has yet to be seen whether Apple can do it, but I really don't think they can if they aren't working with a company like Savant. They simply are not capable of providing the kind of support needed for the wide variety of systems.
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    NZRobNZRob Posts: 70
    I believe that Apple has wrote a custom modified OS to run on Savant's mini Mac so they are very dependent on ongoing Apple support.
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    DHawthorneDHawthorne Posts: 4,584
    NZRob wrote: »
    I believe that Apple has wrote a custom modified OS to run on Savant's mini Mac so they are very dependent on ongoing Apple support.

    The Savant runtime has some deep hooks in the OS, but it looks, feels, and acts like the standard OSX. You can't update it except with a special Savant update though, and that includes Safari and iTunes running on the host. I don't think it's quite a custom OS so much as some low-level scripting, but you may be right.
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    NZRobNZRob Posts: 70
    True - seem to remember something about its just the media player. My experience is with integration with Dynalite which is a complete nightmare - got them to rewrite the base a few times and its still not good. Ended up getting them to turn off all feedback and feeding them the needed info.
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    banobano Posts: 173
    a_riot42 wrote: »
    Microsoft tried and failed as have others, and now both Google and Apple are going to take a stab at it. With these behemoths in the HA area, I wonder what will happen to Craptron, AMX etc? Personally I wouldn't want to see Google ads on my touch panels in my house, or have Apple spy on me and forward security camera video to the NSA on request but that's just me. Anyone have any predictions on how this foray into HA is going to go down by the two juggernauts of tech?
    Paul

    http://www.cepro.com/article/apple_smart_home_predictions_smart_watches_home_automation_store/?utm_source=CEPWeekly&utm_medium=email
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    ericmedleyericmedley Posts: 4,177
    I suppose one other consequence of this move might be a sort of collateral damage to how equipment manufacturers deal with 3rd party control of their gear. With the limited lifespan of technology companies have seemed to scale back a lot of R&D resources that could effect how we control stuff.

    I could see many a production meeting where the manufactures say, "we've only have enough resources to develop one API. It has to be compatible with IFTTT)

    If Apple becomes the 800lb. gorilla in the room when it comes to control API it could have a significant effect on us. (Think IP control of iTunes/Apple TV for example.)

    In this scenario it really doesn't matter much whether it sinks or swims. The effect on us automation software writers could still be significant.
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    rynandorynando Posts: 68
    a_riot42 wrote: »
    I don't see why they would bother buying Savant, Apple would build things from the ground up I would think.

    Apple's never done software well. I think they'll acquire something that currently works.
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