Hands On: Savant ROSIE 4i iPad App

These are the types of demos that will make consumers want to buy home automation. Suddenly, I’m very excited about the iPad.

Now that is impressive! Good work Savant!

Do you realy think that the wealthy older clients who can afford a Savant system are going to care about flashy transitions and animation?  Maybe sports players, but do you realy want to sell a bunch of athletes a bunch of iPad’s that you don’t make hardly any money on?  The reality is that Savant is fresh and new for those in our industry who are tired of the same old thing, or for those who are on the Crestron hater bus, either way it realy doesn’t make me more money at the end of the day and that is why I’m in business!

Funny, they didn’t demo the several steps it takes to get out of the application you are in, connect to your system, and then access the control that you want.

Lastly, black square buttons, realy?. Lot’s of fancy stuff and no attention to the design and yet everyone is so excited.

Gary-

I am not sure you ge the point..

First of all, wealthy older clients who invest in the types of systems we provide do want their interfaces to A) work, B) be intuitive and easy to operate and C) yes, look good and be fun. If you gave anyone-wealthy, poor, techie or not a choice between a static, plain, boring GUI and one that had a nice, cool, look to it-which one do you think they would gravitate towards? I know that the majority of our wealthy clients have iPhones, which, if transitions and animation didn’t matter, they would all still be carrying their Motorola DPC550 flip phones.
I would be happy to configure iPad’s for anyone, athletes included, if it meant they were excited about their systems and showing everyone they know how they love their system-becuase you know what-that iPad is controlling processors, amps, speakers, lighting control, HVAC, etc
You are so quick to point out the “flaws” in a quick YouTube demo, but have you actually seen in it person and played with it? Compared to some of the other control system apps that are out there, it looks very nice, and is actually designed for the iPad, not pixel doubled or a plain looking app.
I am not sure what the App close and open process has to do with it..Really? I a mean, should we bag on all apple products for this for every app on the phone? It reminds me of how people in the audio industry bagged on iPods for “crappy” sound quality…how many more home audio systems have we sold because of it, and how many people are excited when you tell them they can listen to their iPod throughout their house? We need to all embrace getting people “excited” about what we do and how we can make their lives fun, exciting and enjoyable

Jason, I get the point.  In our industry we get so tired of seeing the same stuff every day we get excited when we see something new and different and some even change their business because its the “next big thing”. 

I agree with all 3 of your A, B, and C points, however being intuitive and easy to operate is the most important of all since a working system should be expected.

I have no problem configuring an iPad to control the home as a secondary device or for use outside the home, but it isn’t an appropriate primary control device.  Most of my customers don’t “show off” their systems and flash how much money they have or how many cars they drive.  They refer me based on their experience and how easy it is to do business with me along with how I look out for their best interest.

The process in which to use the application is the fault of all apps yes, however none have the importance of controlling my house.  If I’m reading a book and want to turn the volume down, or increase the lighting so I don’t strain my eyes, I don’t want a multi step process to achieve this.

People don’t spend $300k on up for automation so the system is fun, exciting, and enjoyable.  They buy it to enhance their lifestyle, and to make all of the fun technology they bought is easy to use and simplified.  That doesn’t mean that the interface isn’t important, but a button doesn’t have to bounce all over the place to get people excited by the event that happens when they push it.