The first wave of HomeKit-enabled devices are reaching the market today. HomeKit is Apple’s platform for controlling select aspects of the home from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod.
The products revealed today include light dimmers, thermostat controllers, and a smart home hub. Lutron’s lighting kit and Insteon’s hub go on sale today, and the others will ship later this month. More products are expected to arrive in July.
Apple announced HomeKit a year ago. Rather than act as a stand-alone app, HomeKit lets third-party apps interact with connected devices around the home. iPhone owners can use Siri to turn lights on and off by voice command, if they wish.
Google plans to add a similar capability to Android M with its Brillo / Weave platform.
