Some two years ago, AppleTV redefined digital media libraries. This past Wednesday, Steve Jobs (Apple’s CEO and crew) did it again; this time with the manufacturer of electronic control systems (among others).No longer will residential and commercial electronic control systems be out of the budgetary range for many folks. Now, the +$2 thousand proprietary touchpanels can be replaced with a $499 iPad. Apps and other “open architecture” programs introduce obsolescence to these previous manufacturers of electronic control systems. Should they fail to allow App developers access to their program codes, renegade “out-of-the-box” App players will simply bypass them!
Interestingly, we met with one of these control manufacturers this past week. He spoke of how closely aligned his company was with Apple, and how seamless their controllers were with Apple products. Rising to his (unbeknown) invitation, we asked if we could have their codes so we could adapt their processor to our eController App.
Some quick background… eController (an eLifespaces develop App) expands your iPod Touch and iPhone (and soon to be iPad) allowing the user to control everyday electronic appliances (televisions, DVD players, etc.). The eController allows remote control of hardware or software capable of TCP/IP and UDP communications directly from your iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone. For those TVs and other appliances still utilizing IR and serial commands, networked controllers are needed to “translate” your WiFi commands.
Not for download by the novice individual… this App is for the professional systems integrator who wants to provide custom control via the iPod for their customers. eController needs to be modified for the specific components to which it will control. Think of this… a universal remote control will not work on a component unless you program in the make/model. Who do you know can custom program an application in their iPod or iPhone? This is why we had to qualify download of the App to seasoned (and certified) system electronic integrators.
Back to the story. Needless to say, this “closely aligned” manufacturer would not release the code citing the requirement for a “proprietary look” of their interface. We documented this response as the first repositioning of a control system manufacturer. Certainly more will come and certainly they will take all type of forms!
More to come. ~ f
Tags: App, ESC Forward Looking, iPad