Apple’s HomeKit Hub ⇥ macworld.com

Yesterday, I noted that Mike Elgan’s October 2013 post very nearly called Apple’s HomeKit, with one small exception:

I believe the platform for Apple’s Home Automation server will be the Apple TV product everybody’s been predicting for years.

This system is likely to offer an App Store and development platform for existing home automation companies to create products for. And the consumer will probably control it with an iPhone or iPad while seeing the whole system on the TV.

Maybe there is a forthcoming Apple TV that will show the entire network at a glance. But HomeKit doesn’t require any such central server and, so far, leans towards the iPhone as its primary controller.

Well, Christopher Breen of Macworld certainly thinks that your Apple TV could be the central server of such a network:

Rather than each device sending the intimate details of your home to Nest, Honeywell, GE, and—perhaps more importantly—Google and Facebook, how about if all this information is stored on the Apple TV and hashed for security. When you need to make adjustments or receive reports, data is transmitted via the Apple TV. Your smart appliances remain dumb to any interaction other than what’s been carried on with Apple’s home hub. The devices original manufacturer is none the wiser to what youre doing with them.

Intriguing.