The manufacturers already have (or some will soon have) their own apps for their products. While knowing this generally hurts their touchpanel/remote sales, they realize they have no choice to embrace it or be left behind. So the app itself for each brand is not an issue, it's available. However, because the products themselves are custom, the app itself is simply a tool that allows the use of the IPAD as a remote. It doesn't do anything besides establish a connection with their product. Our job is to create the templates and designs and do the actual integration.
The idea of the wifi-ir isn't a bad one (I think one already exists for Iphone with app and all), but people who are still using direct IR for their system control do not have that kind of budget. If you are doing direct IR, it has to be cheap... like Logitech Harmony cheap and self programmable. It's something that manufactureres sell direct to consumer and specialty dealers like us generally won't touch because there is no profit in it on our end. It's an entry level solution. If you can design and manufacture them cheap, market and distribute them, there is certainly money to be made. It's such a popular idea that I'm surprised they aren't already flooding the market, so I guess the opportunity is still there.
However, anyone who can afford over 1k for an automation remote isn't in the direct IR category anymore. If someone were to design their own app for IPAD, I honestly believe the future is no longer in direct infrared signaling. It's a wifi device and it simply needs a wifi controller at the equipment location. The IR database is necessary of course, but the IPAD would communicate WiFi to that device, which in turn would execute all the commands. It's only a matter of time before TV and electronics manufacturers start creating apps of their own so you can control their device with your Iphone/IPAD.
It already exists for certain products. TVs already connect to the Internet and stream content, wired and/or wifi. It's not going to be too long before TVs and other electronics are streaming content directly from your home computer, along with Internet access and Netflix. Some already do it. Any of those manufacturers could release an app that communicates directly with their device over wifi. Some components like DirecTV boxes and certain new Samsung LEDs actually use RF remotes instead of IR. The next evolution happening right now is the move to WiFi control. There will be devices that can establish an ad-hoc connection directly between itself and the device over wi-fi without the need of any other wifi network. This will be how automation control happens in the future. In the meantime, it is already wi-fi, but since the devices don't have that functionality yet, we still have to rely on a processor firing IR codes via emitters to those same devices.
So unfrotunately I'm not currently working on any direct IR based solutions as I feel that is already coming from a lot of the "big boys" that us small guys can't compete with. It's going to be more of a commodity product, priced very low and sold at large volumes to make a profit. Fortunately, that kind of setup is still entry level and its simply replacing a small $100 IR remote with a fancier, more expensive IPhone or IPAD. It's going to get huge, no doubt, but its going to happen at the mass-market commodity level.
Fortunately, that kind of control still isn't playing in the big leagues with the kind of control systems we are working with, so its not a threat to our business model. Our business model is to integrate the IPAD with the control systems we use. That is also a game-changer in the sense you can use the IPAD instead of a remote at multiple times its price. Due to the power of the control system running the show in the background, the IPAD will have an enormous amount more capability than the entry-level solutions. It will require no line of sight, have full feedback capability from all devices, and will control home devices like lights/hvac/cams etc beyond just the AV. It will still require custom programming which is what we want, but it will save the client anywhere from 2-4K per remote.
I'm no Nostradamus, but what I see in the future for tablets is the same thing we have now, a multi-tiered system. You'll have the entry level stuff like the Logitech products now, the mid-tier stuff that is not IR based in the
1K+ range that is processor based, and the high-end stuff like Crestron/Savant/AMX which is still 20K+, but is now based around these tablets instead of their overpriced panels.
The real limitation is the IR devices. Once the industry shifts to wifi, you can literally create an app that communicates using macros across all devices in a system.... all without any wires, emitters, controllers or components. Then a single app requiring no additional hardware besides the devices themselves can truly be the killer app. Imagine the TV, receiver, bluray player, lights, thermostats, even the fridge all use wifi control. You have a home with all your electronics already "wifi-control" ready and based on a standard that any device with a wifi connection and an app can control. It's coming a lot sooner than people think. Not yet, but before this decade is out. I'm excited about it and in the meantime we have to bridge the gap between the new tech and the old standards.
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