Those attending CES are used to the idea that Apple is not physically present at the consumer electronics show that kicks off the new year. Apple, however, is present in various other ways, and this year’s spotlight was HomeKit. But somehow, Alexa (you know, Alexa from Amazon) has managed to grab more attention this year, so compared to that Apple’s presence at CES 2017 is really quiet, says The Verge.
This year manufacturers have presented various devices that are compatible with Apple’s HomeKit, but The Verge found all of them “boring”. HomeKit-compatible devices continue to be thermostats, lightning, smoke detectors and plenty of sensors: alongside Carrier’s thermostat, ConnectSense presented a water sensor and a temperature sensor, Fibaro a water and motion sensor, and you can find new power outlets, as well.
The biggest expansion HomeKit has seen this year has been in the cameras area; for example, D-Link’s or Withings‘ home security camera.
But these are just the basics, according to The Verge, which misses Apple’s involvement in areas where Amazon seems to be succeeding this year: the big appliances. And Apple is not talking about when or if it plans to enable HomeKit support for such devices.
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Yeah, it was definitely all Alexa this year….even Google Home was missing across a wide variety of products that it should work with. Hopefully this means an official international rollout soon from Amazon.
Alexa’s announcements definitely earned a tonne of headlines at CES. An international rollout like Amazon Prime Video for Alexa would be awesome.