Why Apple is finally making its own smart home devices

For more than a decade, Apple has told other companies to build smart home devices for its platform. This week, Apple launched its own. The Apple Home Collection is a lineup of cameras, thermostats, sensors, a smart door lock, and a video doorbell, all codeveloped with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric. They arrive alongside HomeView, Apple’s first smart display.

Even after 12 years of HomeKit, Apple’s smart home ecosystem still feels underdeveloped, especially compared to the competition. Amazon’s and Google’s ecosystems support more products, and both have popular in-house brands: Ring and Nest. Apple had nothing of its own to point customers to as an Apple experience — and now it does.

But why now? And does Apple actually add anything new here, or is this mostly packaging? At Apple’s “Welcome home” event in New York this week, I spoke with Kaiann Drance, vice president of product marketing...

Copyright of this story solely belongs to www.theverge.com. To see the full text click HERE