Apple Files Trademark Application for HomeKit 'Home' Icon

[MacRumors]

There have been rumors Apple has a dedicated HomeKit app in the works that would give users a central location to control all of their HomeKit devices, but thus far, the Cupertino company has kept quiet on whether such an app exists. More evidence pointing towards the existence of a possible HomeKit app surfaced today, however, in the form of a trademark application filed through a known shell company, iGuide Media.

As noted by French site Consomac [Google Translate], iGuide Media filed a priority trademark for an icon that appears to correspond to a HomeKit "Home" app on March 12, 2015 in Jamaica, and has now filed again in the United States on September 14. The trademark applies to a long list of electronics and home products, including thermostats, smoke detectors, window shades, garage door openers, and more.

iGuide Media is a shell company that has filed trademarks on Apple's behalf in the past, ahead of the 2010 launch of the original iPad.

The icon is depicted in the trademark application as an H with a roof on it to form a house, with the icon placed on an orange background. It is similar in color to the HomeKit icons on Apple's own website, but the design is decidedly different.

Apple's release plans for a HomeKit app are unclear. It is not known if the company intends to launch a HomeKit app for public use in the future, or if the icon in today's trademark filing corresponds to a dedicated app. It could also be an icon simply intended to represent HomeKit going forward, in developer documentation and on product packaging.

Article Link: Apple Files Trademark Application for HomeKit 'Home' Icon

 

[LordQ]

Great, more bloatware we can't remove. Hopefully iOS 10 lets us like Tim said.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

My offer was just accepted for my first house... maybe I'll start caring about all this HomeKit stuff a bit more now that I actually live in my own house and am free to tinker with everything, as opposed to my apartment where I had to leave it all as I found it.

 

[nutmac]

Finally! It boggles my mind that Home app wasn't launched with HomeKit. Hopefully, Home app will eliminate the need to install 3rd party apps in the first place. Some devices such as LED lightbulbs can last a very long time, longer than some of these companies.

 

[btrach144]

Homekit App will appear in iOS 10. Next years iOS will focus on serious improvements to Healthkit and Homekit. You heard it hear first.

 

[Hyundella]

It's weird how this icon has been present for a while now on some Apple store apps already! This one for instance!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/homebank.kz/id440635615?mt=8
I don't get how Apple get leeway with patenting basically anything they want...

 

[avanpelt]

I wish Apple hadn't made a big deal about HomeKit leading up to the iOS 8. That was simply foolish on their part. They announced something that was nowhere near ready for primetime and they had to have known it.

They should've waited for iOS 10 or whenever they're really going to launch HomeKit instead of doing a half-assed soft launch last year that resulted in a waste of companies' resources as they were developing for the platform for the past year and a waste of consumers' money as they were buying HomeKit-enabled products that are mostly half-baked. Some of the people who got burned by lousy HomeKit products in the past year may not give the platform another chance anytime soon, if at all.

I really don't like this trend of Apple shoving something out the door that's broken while seemingly having the mentality that they'll just fix it in version 2. All the while, Apple is telling consumers and developers that the product/platform/service is revolutionary and amazing. Apple also keeps telling the media that they only ship things once the things are ready. HomeKit clearly wasn't ready a year ago but it was pushed out the door anyway.

 

[smulji]

Homekit App will appear in iOS 10. Next years iOS will focus on serious improvements to Healthkit and Homekit. You heard it hear first.

Or maybe we'll see it in iOS 9.2

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

At Apple, we believe in the colours orange and blue.

 

[jontech]

Samsung to release the "Samsung home integrated telephone"

 

[NightFox]

If the Health.app is an indication of Apple's ability and commitment to produce a one-stop central aggregator app for all the health and fitness apps using the HealthKit framework, then I really don't hold out much hope for an automated home aggregator app.

Health was meant to be the golden child of iOS8 - already it's looking like another like another iTunes Ping.

 

[2457282]

If the Health.app is an indication of Apple's ability and commitment to produce a one-stop central aggregator app for all the health and fitness apps using the HealthKit framework, then I really don't hold out much hope for an automated home aggregator app.

Health was meant to be the golden child of iOS8 - already it's looking like another like another iTunes Ping.

I have to regretfully agree. I stopped buying Hue lightbulbs when HomeKit was announced because I did not know where this would end up. Two years later, zero progress seems to have been made. And the only thing that works with my health app right now is the Apple Watch. Both of these frameworks have been extremely disappointing so far. There is still a chance they will take off because no one else has cornered either market. But my hopes have been tempered with the constant ticking of the clock.

 

[tbrinkma]

It's weird how this icon has been present for a while now on some Apple store apps already! This one for instance!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/homebank.kz/id440635615?mt=8
I don't get how Apple get leeway with patenting basically anything they want...

First, it's a *trademark*, not a *patent*. They're two *very* different things, which server two *very* different purposes.

Second, trademarks are domain specific. If the HomeBank app has nothing to do with the HomeKit type of functionality (and it doesn't *appear* to, though I'll admit I can't actually read the app's description), there's no reason why the two trademarks can't coexist.

Third, it's an *application*, not an issuance. You can *apply* for a trademark on anything. You may not *get* one if it is too similar to something else already in use in that domain.

 

[nutmac]

If the Health.app is an indication of Apple's ability and commitment to produce a one-stop central aggregator app for all the health and fitness apps using the HealthKit framework, then I really don't hold out much hope for an automated home aggregator app.

I suspect Health.app was originally meant to be part of Settings.app. IMO, Activity app that is unlocked by Apple Watch would be a great front-end for the masses. But alas, it is exclusive to Apple Watch which I think is a mistake.

 

[macosxuser01]

Still there's the issue of capabilities. Not to mention if Apple is gonna make a Smart Home Device Hub or are there gonna go in the Alarm.com direction and strictly just make the interactive side

 

[macosxuser01]

Homekit App will appear in iOS 10. Next years iOS will focus on serious improvements to Healthkit and Homekit. You heard it hear first.

People said that when iOS 8 came out

 

[ipedro]

Finally! It boggles my mind that Home app wasn't launched with HomeKit. Hopefully, Home app will eliminate the need to install 3rd party apps in the first place. Some devices such as LED lightbulbs can last a very long time, longer than some of these companies.

I'd like to see HomeKit device manufactures allowed to add code to the HomeKit app instead of their own separate app. The HomeKit app would scan a barcode on the device and automatically download the code for that device so that the HomeKit app knows how to use it and what controls to display for that device.

 

[Dekema2]

Remember IP Application Development? It was a shell company.

The iGuide will be the same.

 

[macduke]

My offer was just accepted for my first house... maybe I'll start caring about all this HomeKit stuff a bit more now that I actually live in my own house and am free to tinker with everything, as opposed to my apartment where I had to leave it all as I found it.

You think that now, but as someone who bought their (still fairly new) first house a couple years ago, there are lots of other things that end up taking up your time. If you're married you'll probably get a honey-do list. You'll need to keep up the landscaping, mowing, repairs, etc. After spending years in different apartments, I too was excited to tinker but the tinkering never really happened beyond installing a Nest when we first moved in. Then there's also the price! After putting a down payment on the house, there wasn't a lot of extra money that we could pull from savings to buy expensive home automation stuff.

IDK. I might get some window/door switches and maybe a power switch or two once I can see the reviews of everything, but I used to have bigger plans with house-wide sound system, cameras, door locks, garage door control, etc. Those plans will probably wait until my next house in another 4-5 years. I think it really depends how long you'll stay there. I'll probably have a home custom built with that stuff pre-installed. Maybe you'll get lucky and not need to work on other house things. Or maybe you have enough money to just pay other people to do those things. But good luck to you in your tinkering, hope you can stick to your plans and not get derailed! It has just been one thing after another for me.

 

[SHNXX]

Considering google owns nest and Samsung owns many home appliances, I'm not hopeful about Apple HomeKit being able to integrate lots of smart home hardware.

 

[avanpelt]

At Apple, we believe in the colours orange and blue.

Hey, at least they believe in two colors. Have you seen T-Mobile US's coverage maps? It begs the question...how many different shades of magenta can they put on a map?

 

[displayblock]

Great, more bloatware we can't remove. Hopefully iOS 10 lets us like Tim said.

I wouldn't hold my breath. Tim didn't say anything, he just deflected the question with "it's something we're looking at." Any jailbreak user could tell you the Stocks, Watch and Tips apps can be safely removed without impacting the rest of iOS 8. I don't buy the "some apps that are linked to something else" excuse he gave.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

You think that now, but as someone who bought their (still fairly new) first house a couple years ago, there are lots of other things that end up taking up your time. If you're married you'll probably get a honey-do list. You'll need to keep up the landscaping, mowing, repairs, etc. After spending years in different apartments, I too was excited to tinker but the tinkering never really happened beyond installing a Nest when we first moved in.

Don't people just hire kids from the neighborhood to mow their lawn for $20 once a week? I don't need any fancy garden or anything that would require any particular amount of skill. I just need a kid with an hour of time and a desire for $20.

If they won't do it, then I'll build a self driving lawn mower. I tried doing that on a limited budget as my senior project. I made a few mistakes so that project ended in failure, but I think I learned from those and given a few months I could do it again and do it right this time.

Then there's also the price! After putting a down payment on the house, there wasn't a lot of extra money that we could pull from savings to buy expensive home automation stuff.

Is it really that costly? We might have different ideas of what is expensive...

 

[macduke]

Don't people just hire kids from the neighborhood to mow their lawn for $20 once a week? I don't need any fancy garden or anything that would require any particular amount of skill. I just need a kid with an hour of time and a desire for $20.

Depends. I live in a neighborhood with lots of young families. This is also a college town, so not as many high school teens as usual as the demographics skew young adult and old professors. After two years I still haven't found a kid to mow my lawn. It's good exercise anyway so I just do it. Even my friends that live in cities with plenty of teens say that they just don't mow lawns any more. IDK if it's a cultural thing or what. A robotic mower would be great but I'd be worried about it eating the neighbor's dog or a small child, lol.

Is it really that costly? We might have different ideas of what is expensive...[/QUOTE]

Depends how much you put down on your house. I tend to not like to pay PMI so I put down a lot on a 15 year mortgage. I also like to keep a lot in savings as we have older cars and I prefer to pay cash. Priorities. As for price—Sonos systems, HD motion cameras, about 50 Hue Lightbulbs (or similar), blind controls and everything else can add up quick. So it depends on how far you go with it and how advanced you want your tech. Or how willing you are to buy first-gen Homekit stuff and end up replacing it in a couple years. I've read that this first round is pretty glitchy. For me, by the time they've got it worked out I'll probably be not far off from my next house which I'm likely going to custom design myself. I'll be able to put down an even bigger down payment from the sale of my previous house on a nicer house and roll the cost of my home automation into the price of the mortgage. But that's just my plan. Have fun!