First Apple HomeKit Devices to Debut Next Month
Apple says that the first batch of smart home devices running its HomeKit software will start shipping in June—despite a recent Fortune report to the contrary. According to the Wall Street Journal, an Apple spokesperson says that we’ll get our first taste of Apple-crafted home automation within a few short weeks.
Said Apple’s Trudy Muller:
“HomeKit [hardware certification] has been available for just a few months and we already have dozens of partners who have committed to bringing HomeKit accessories to market and we’re looking forward to the first ones coming next month.”
What accessories might they be? When in June? What will they do? How will they work? Nobody knows.
The Fortune report to which Apple seems to have responded cites “sources participating in the program” who say that Apple “has been struggling to stabilize certain aspects of the software.”
It elaborates:
“It appears that making it easy to sign in and get your devices (door locks, light bulbs, et cetera) online is much harder to do than Apple anticipated. One source says the code base associated with that part of the process ‘blew up’ and required way too much memory for smaller, battery-powered devices, so Apple is trying to shrink the code back down to size.”
As you may know, Apple’s annual developer conference, WWDC, is slated for early June, so if there’s going to be a good time for the company to show off new HomeKit-powered products, that’s going to be the time to do it. Moreover, if an Apple spokesperson got the all-clear to confirm that HomeKit devices are definitely coming in June, you can bet your sweet bippy that it’s going to happen. Apple doesn’t typically reveal anything about release dates unless it’s really sure about making them happen.
It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, hits the stage next month. Since Apple will likely want to show what HomeKit can do for its crowd of developers in attendance, there’s little doubt that we’ll get a real glimpse of the IoT protocol there. As to what form that’ll take, however, is anybody’s guess.