4 Ways Apple’s iPad Will Change Custom Electronics

Looks like it will make another great addition to the Savant line up.

I think you’ve predicted things fairly accurately.  One will have to hone up the selling skills to be able to explain the value of a dedicated handheld device for traditional remote control activities.  Programmers will have to work overtime to ensure their programs are indeed easier and more convenient to use than the applications that can be (and I’m sure there will be more to come) used with the I-PAD. 

None of this is impossile, but integrators that dismiss the I-PAD as not having an impact on their business will do so at theri own peril.

We have been snooping through the SDK for iPad development and due to the way we have programmed our CommandFusion iViewer app for iPhone, it will be quite easy to extend this to also use the full 1024x768 resolution of the iPad.

Can’t wait to get my hands on one and expand our software lineup to include support for the iPad.

I see the iPad becoming very popular amongst the home automation users. Many people jumped onto the iPod Touch and iPhone control paradigm using our app simply because of the cost saving when comparing to similar offerings from Crestron. The biggest problem with the iPod Touch for home automation was the limited screen size. The iPad changes this, and at a VERY affordable price.

Our software works with any Ethernet controllable hardware (including the major players like Crestron and AMX, and down to the more basic systems using a single GlobalCache box). The iPad is perfect for all those markets.

I think its good news for us, the more people use items like the iPad the more they will understand custom electronics and want more home integration!

+1 on all counts. The iPad offers our industry yet another populist tool that we can integrate into our systems. There are already quite a number of CE apps that work on the iPhone and iPod Touch and being able to use them on a larger, easier to use screen that’s also an email & web appliance, photo viewer, eBook reader, music & video player, etc. seems logical to me.

Less than one day since the iPad was announced and CE Pro has already received a press release touting a full-fledged iPad-based remote control from Goldmund, a Geneva, Switzerland-based manufacturer of A/V equipment. 
The release says Goldmund its new iPad Media Room remote control “will be available as soon as the iPad is on the market.”
The release adds that the system can be part of “a complete home automation program controlled from an iPad.”

The iPad will undoubtedly change our market and customer’s expectations for what is available for $500.  We have been integrating the iPhone/iPod apps from Crestron, HomeLogic already on top of the web viewing/control services of many home security systems.  I am excited to see how this develops.  This is a chance to bring some additional excitement to the industry.  Don’t tell my boss or these automation companies but those other touchpanels have some tough competition.  Unless your customer will pay more to do less or should I say more “simple and customized” control.  The downside of less programming possibilities will probably be overcome with compatible subsystems.

Its time for Crestron to realize $2500-$10000 touchscreens won’t sell like they used to and whether they want to accept this will ultimately decide where they will be in a couple of years.

The TPMC-8X even at dealer cost cannot compare to an iPad running something like iViewer and not only will that app allow me to totally control my Crestron systems just as the Crestron panels do but I can easily change to another app.

With other apps I can see streaming cams from around the world, access a browser and maps and a dictionary or TV guides, my iTunes librarys and remotely stream video collections and the list goes on and on…need I say more!

I’m sure some will say “But its no good if you have to change apps etc”

For those who have used products such as iViewer(and the hundreds more to come) you know on the iPhone or the touch its in/out of apps with no slowdown and flipping apps or whatever needs to be done won’t matter.

If your gonna complain or try to say something about the 1-2 seconds this will take to change to any app you need don’t forget to mention all the things a Crestron panel cannot provide us dealers.

Some very BASIC FEATURES are missing from Crestron software and panels, should it be rocket science to add network camera support that is reliable..something that DIY software does with relative ease?

Even having access to the web on a Crestron panel or Xpanel seems like a privilege and lets not even get on adding reliable weather stats etc to a panel.

Times are changing…

No multitasking.

No Flash support.

No USB ports.

Limited storage.

I don’t see how this will revolutionize anything. With slate tablet PCs running Win7 and having the features I just listed it seems the market for this device will be extremely limited.

Some will use this pad monthly.

I know I wanted a wireless touchscreen to use with my HA system… I am an end user and a installer of my own system using HomeSeer.

Rather than buying a Control 4 or creston wireless tablet for $1500+ I will be buying the iPAD $500 version and using it as my touchscreen client.

HomeSeer already makes a iPhone client app and it is fully customizable.  I just need to change the res of my screens and I am done.

$500 or $1500+

the choice is simple for me

and a W7 Tablet like the HP or something is great, but in HA you want “instant on”

the HP slate isnt a instant on device.  So changing lighting scenes would be lame if you needed to wait for the OS to boot.

iPAD is instant on and instant off device. 

This will be prefect in my kichen with the docking station.

Posted by Simon on 01/28 at 12:45 PM
No multitasking.

No Flash support.

No USB ports.

Limited storage.

I don’t see how this will revolutionize anything. With slate tablet PCs running Win7 and having the features I just listed it seems the market for this device will be extremely limited.

A- I think the next version of the iPad OS will support multitasking as it has the horsepower and screen real estate to do it effectively. The iPhone does have some multitasking capabilities already (talk and browse, listen to music while checking mail, browsing, launching apps) I’m honestly not finding myself wanting a ton more to do at the same time..

B- I understand this, but I dislike Flash, think its a memory and stability hog, and I think Apple is forcing the issue - fix it, or adopt alternatives.

C- I agree - should have a USB port instead of the camera adapter/dock accessories

D- Limited Storage. Up to 64 GB for a controller is limited??? One would never think of the iPad as the primary media storage device in the context of home automation - it would be on a server, and the free Apple Remote app would route your content to connected ATV’s or Airport Extreme’s. Easy….

I’m all over this MaxiPad like Tiger Woods!!

I want to use this to contol my music and J. River Media Center

This is cool, I’m going to be the first in line to purchase an iPad. In fact, I will have my tent ready to stand in line.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled a new touchscreen tablet computer on Wednesday dubbed the “iPad,” seeking to carve out a niche between the laptop and the smartphone.
Apple said it would start shipping the iPad, which features a virtual touchscreen keyboard, within 60 days, making them available worldwide in late March. Jobs, who appeared thin but healthy, said Apple was launching an online “iBookstore” for the iPad and touted its abilities as an electronic reader of books, newspapers and magazines.
Some technology analysts expect the iPad to pose a challenge to other e-readers on the market and Jobs made a reference to the e-reader market leader, Amazon’s Kindle.
Do you think Apple’s iPad will kill Amazon’s Kindle and why?
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http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/ultimate-acai-max-review-1437608.html

I have two tech savvy clients with large homes we are integhrating. Both will have 10+ touch screens per home. They have been waiting months for the iPad to come out. Instead of a $2-$4 thousand touch screen, Both clients want to use this as their main control touch screen. I have to build a control system around the interface.
It may never work out, but it is their specification for the interface.
Has anyone else run into this?

Flash is too heavy and will be obsolete with the increased use of html5

USB port not required, by using the 30-pin dock connector/adapter future compatibility endless, USB3 etc… works with all 30-pin devices already available for iPod/iPhone ecosystem.

Apps will make this platform as it did with the iPhone, gen1 was great but now killer with apps.

Developers have a blank canvas with the iPad and are only limited by their imaginations.

Savant may be in the best place of all the HA companies to take full advantage of the iPad.

Spot on. In fact, home automation is the only thing I would use this for.  Never mind all the versitility; as a **dedicated** touch panel using apps already available for iPhone the $499 version will be near perfect. One can only imagine what the HA developers will do with all the extra real estate and video capability. HA integrators should have value-add services related to integrating them, rather than ignore them.

When we installed our HA 4 years ago, I never wanted to buy tablets offered by the installers, because it just didn’t make sense.

I never understood why companies like Crestron were selling $1k + hand held’s that were limited in functionality. Now that the iPad and a slew of other tablets are coming out, the game is changing.

Unless the leaders in HA adapt and embrace newer technologies their survival will be in question. The same holds true for installers that don’t adapt and come up with new value proposition to their customers. You don’t try to swim against a wave but ride with it….

My $0.02
c4rider

This product will have a more profound impact on our industry than any other. It’s hard to see how the iPad will be used for much more than growing their revenue from selling apps and content to further positioning Apple to be the dominate player in the consumers’ consumption of entertainment. Think of this device, an Apple TV, and sometime in the near future a scaled down version of Savant, and you have something our industry must watch very closely.