Apple is delaying the launch of HomeKit, the iOS-based connected home platform. As reported by Stacey Higginbotham for Fortune, sources involved with HomeKit’s rollout claim that Apple is now planning on launching in August or September after originally aiming to have the platform up and running by June.
First presented in June of last year at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference, HomeKit aims to center popular smart home devices around a common control infrastructure in iOS. With HomeKit, controls for lights, locks, thermostats, and other connected gadgets will be baked right into your phone or tablet’s operating system.
That includes notification support and Siri-activated voice controls, both of which were on display from HomeKit-friendly smart home manufacturers like iDevices, Schlage, and Chamberlain at January’s Consumer Electronics Showcase in Las Vegas.
Beyond, that, details about HomeKit’s scope and how it will work have been hard to come by, though sources tell Fortune that HomeKit’s base coding was demanding too much memory of smaller, battery-powered devices, and that Apple needs more time to shrink it back down into something more manageable.
Apple hasn’t responded to our request for comment, and we haven’t heard anything from any of the manufacturers developing products for HomeKit, either. We’ll update this space as we hear more.
Source: Cnet