4 Ways Apple’s iPad Will Change Custom Electronics

As an integrater, we sell ease of use, control in the same location in a room & all of the components/hardware that makes a system work.

As a for profit company, where do I buy my I-Pad & control system?  At cost?  So that I can still be here when a customer needs help.

Concerned….........

What happened to wanting to make good fair money and provide a client with somthing that works the first time and everytime?  Oh great, another device I have to compete with little to no margin against that every want to be integrator thinks he can install and make work.  At least with industry companies like Crestron and AMX, they design products for integration first.

I now feel guilty asking $2400 dollars from a client for an unnamed manufactures wireless 7” screen that barely works reliably half of the time.  Manufactures need to wake up.  Our industry is doomed if we do not adapt.  I would categorize this as a meteor heading our way.  Ipod sales just reached 250,000.  even if the Ipad doesn’t sell well the publics perception of how much this stuff should cost is forever changed.

For those of you inclined to dismiss the iPad as a cheap toy with limited appeal for your potential clients, prepare to have your a** handed to you. Consider Apple’s track record in rewriting the rules for entire industry sectors much larger than HA. Portable music players. Music distribution. Video content distribution. Smartphones.

Remember Apple is at its core a software company that just happens to make its money selling hardware. Stable, powerful, easy to use software wrapped in a simple, elegant package. A rapidly growing number of consumers who are willing to look past the orthodoxy have seen this, spoken with their wallets, and never looked back.
Apple’s “cheap” (relative to amx/crestron/kaleidescape/etc pricing) consumer electronics are only inexpensive because they sell tens of millions and leverage the power of MacOSX in each. Which has $billions and over a decade of development behind it. These optimized devices (iPod touch/iPhone/iPad) in the MacOSX ecosystem represent a better computing platform and better user experience for any task for which software is available. And therein lies the opportunity. But have no doubt: the current business model of crestron/amx/etc is dead. Their hardware will never be as ubiquitous as Apple’s (less demand), and those who think they can best the user experience of MacOSX deserve to lose. Smart companies will get on board now or be relegated to supporting legacy products.

Don’t think Apple can just walk in and take over? Ask an executive from Sony Music, Palm, Nokia, or Dell.

Trevor, missed a few zeros. You must be quoting Kindle numbers. Apple sold 22.7 million iPods in just the FIRST QUARTER of 2009. Well over 220 million cumulatively.

BTW, nitpicking about a usb port or flash support is really missing the forest. If those features are really in demand they will show up on subsequent models.

From my forthcoming editorial in Electronic House:

To mute your TV with an iPhone, you have to press at the very minimum three buttons and more likely five or six.

“It’s just like texting,” he says. “I don’t even think about it. Sometimes it’s easier just to sit in the chair than to get up and grab a remote.”

Julie: Note that if you are using your iPhone to control your TV, you leave it running the app. So to mute your TV it’s generally a single button press. CommandFusion iViewer can be setup to turn off the screen when you place it face down on something (triggered by the proximity sensor) then turn back on when you pick it up. No need to lock and unlock the device each time you want to change the channel. Saves battery, whilst remaining fully connected to your automation system the whole time the app is running. And if it’s your sole control point for the TV, you will have a dock nearby for charging when not in use anyway, perhaps even on the side table next to the couch so it can sit on there and charge your phone whilst watching TV, screen always on ready for control.

txdoc: you’ve nailed it!

I’ve been long enough in the computer industry to finally understand that its not all about the hardware! Its about the software and the experience that comes from using the software. Apple, being at its core a software company is enabling consumers+coders to benefit by pushing the envelope.

An IPad is simply a platform to deliver more software and to bring the web closer to you. The heavyweights like Crestron and AMX should realize the disruption to their bottom that IPad and a slew of other devices are going to bring. If I was an installer, think software and service and new ways of monetization.

I wasn’t crazy when I put in 30 Cat-6 drops in my house when it was built. I use my software acumen and not-so expensive devices to achieve what I would have paid dear sums for few years back.

For those that have the time look-up a text called “Innovators Dillema” by Christensen. I see the whole thing slowly playing out in the HA industry all over again….

txdoc, Jarrod & c4rider have hit the proverbial nail on the head! The iPad and other devices in this rapidly developing genre will forever change the face of our industry (as they will that of many other industries). As we’ve seen time and time again in CE, those who do not adapt to change are left standing in the dust of those who do.

No multitasking.

No Flash support.

No USB ports.

Limited storage.

I did see and answer to this post before. But let me know add a few points to this.  One of the biggest advantages of any apple product is its simplicity!  The combination of the software and hardware come together great for amazing product experience…  That’s what many people look for in products ease of use and reliability. Sure there are a few aspects that will get updated speaking of hardware. But we have keep in mind that the heart of many of the features is software and that will get updated in the future. Many possibilities for use of the ipad. think education.. home automation.. the possibilites are endless…

iPad will change the industry by one reason: Mass Production. Home Automation has never been affordable, and even the expensive solutions are almost instantly outdated by glossy touch screen cell phones, and now tablets. That $2000 touch screen looks 10 years old compared to these $500-$600 tablets that will be coming out. The mass production of these new touch screens will beat the expensive options from much smaller companies that simply can’t compete. Home Automation needs to be controlled via TCP/IP so its universal and any new tablet can run the software.