Need help for Engineering Management project

[clay.maffett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hello everyone,
    I am a sophomore at Vanderbilt University taking a class called
Engineering Management 221.  Its major focus is the cumulative
development of a Technology Strategy Assessment for a frontier-level
technology (such as wireless power, OLED, holographic data storage,
etc).  My group's chosen technology, as you might have guessed, is
home automation.  More specifically, we are developing a business
platform around an imaginary Apple Inc. product line called iBode.  We
know that it might be far-fetched for Apple to jump into the smart
home market, but in many ways they already have: they in some forms
dominate the "digital lifestyle" market with the iPod and "cool"
computing hardware and OS; with the apple tv and iPhone, their
prevalence in this market will grow; they maintain the ability to seem
ahead of the competition.

    We decided the iBode would essentially be a modified Mac Pro that
would serve as the command hub for the rest of the home network.  It
would most likely be based around a modified (OSX-friendly) X10
protocol, so as to lessen compatibility issues.  We have also
seriously entertained the idea of Apple partnering with or buying
Insteon.  Our belief is that home automation is not a frontier
technology, it is an existing and refined technology that has simply
not reached your everyday Joe.  Apple's reputation, creativity, and
marketing machine could remedy this inexposure. for how we could
approach our technology strategy

    So what I ask of all of you here in this Google Group is, quite
broadly, what do you think of the idea?  How practical is the
implementation of such an iBode system?  What do you think are the
biggest potential problems we might encounter?  Do you have any new
ideas for how to approach our Technology Strategy that we might have
overlooked?  Any help will be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance,

Clay Maffett