Regular readers will know that my enthusiasm for smart home technology dates back to the days of clunky X10 devices. Though there were standalone systems available, it was obvious even then that it made sense to adopt a common standard, and in the 1980s, X10 was that standard.
Fast-forward to a few years ago and what we gained in app support, we lost in standardization. Most manufacturers did their own thing, using their own protocols. There were one or two exceptions, like the Philips Hue system that was really just a rebadged form of Zigbee, but most devices didn’t talk to each other. You ended up with a whole slew of separate apps on your iPhone to control everything.
Apple’s HomeKit platform was designed to unify everything, but that came with its own dilemma for early adopters …
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