> APPLE BUILDING ITS OWN
SATELLITE NETWORK?
Apple is well known for creating its
own proprietary “ecosystems” of
devices that work together. Now
a Bloomberg report claims Apple
is developing its own network of
satellites. It’s not clear whether
this network would be designed
to enable Apple devices to
communicate with each other
independently of other internet
and cellular carrier services, or to
provide an independent location
and mapping service, or for some
other purpose. It is also unclear
whether Apple is aiming to build
its own satellites or just developing
the tech it wants, for more
established manufacturers to
produce and deploy. Apple hired
two former Google employees with
expertise in space tech back in
2017, and there’s now reportedly a
team of around a dozen aerospace,
satellite, and antenna design
specialists involved. Bloomberg
describes the project as “a
company priority” and says
sources claim the aim is to deploy
“within five years”.
Amazon has filed for FCC
approval for its own project,
codenamed Kuiper, to provide
global internet services using more
than 3,000 of its own satellites,
although the exact timescale for
this is still unspecified.News in
brief
Bite–size Apple
newsto standardize Smart Home user
interfaces such as voice assistants,
smart displays, or desktop and
mobile apps, so you’ll still have
a choice of approaches and feature
sets. Apple, Amazon, and Google are
committed to continue support for
their existing products and users.
WORKING TOGETHER
According to the working group,
many Smart Home devices today
use proprietary protocols, requiring
them to be connected to a home
network using dedicated proxies and
translators. Using Internet Protocol
(IP), the most common network
layer used in homes and oL·ces,
devices may instead be able to
connect directly with standardized
networking equipment.
By building upon IP, the project
aims to enable communication
across Smart Home devices, mobile
apps, and cloud services and to
deĽne a speciĽc set of IP–based
networking technologies for device
certiĽcation. An initial draft is
expected in late 2020.
Not all devices will need to be
connected to the internet — IP will
be used for sending messages from
a Smart Home device to “another
device, app, or service” with “end–
to–end security and privacy.”
Project Connected Home over IP
will also work alongside existing
connectivity protocols such as Wi–Fi
and Bluetooth, rather than trying to
replace them. According to the
group, devices will likely have to
support Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low
Energy, or Thread in order to work
with the new system.
CNBC reports that Project
Connected Home over IP will focus
initially on physical safety devices
such as smoke alarms, door locks,
smart plugs, security systems and
thermostats, with other consumer
devices coming down the line.
According to data analysis
company Statista.com, the Smart
Home market in the US will be worth
more than $27.6bn in 2020 and is
expected to grow by more than 14%
each year over the next four years.MARKET SHARE
According to The Verge, the vast
majority of device manufacturers
make Alexa-enabled devices, the
market leaders by a long way —
Amazon claims compatibility with
a staggering 85,000 devices, while
Google claims 10,000. By contrast,
Apple lists just 450 HomeKit–
compatible devices.
Such devices commonly support
multiple platforms, because
manufacturers want to sell to users
of Amazon or Zigbee as well as Apple
products. But building in a single
standard should simplify things
for manufacturers, and wider
interoperability might boost sales of
Apple’s ľagship smart speaker, the
HomePod. According to Ľgures from
Consumer Intelligence Research
Partners (CIRP), HomePod
accounted for just 5% of the
estimated installed base of 76m
smart speakers in the US in the
second quarter of 2019. Amazon
remained the leading smart
speaker vendor, with Amazon
Echo devices accounting for 70%
of smart speakers during the
quarter, followed by Google Home
devices with 25% market share.Image rights: Apple, Adobe. maclife.com MAR 2020 9