Re: Need help for Engineering Management project

[Marc_F_Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 16 Mar 2007 14:31:12 -0700, clay.maffett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote in
message  <1174080672.360267.96840@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

>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


Reactions in no particular order:

1) iBode -- Good name for the Me generation.   (But comes up with 633,000
hits on Google.)

2) This is _not_ a Google Group. This is usenet. Learn the difference or
misunderstand the input (and we presume if your prof is savvy, points)

3) I agree that home automation as usually discussed in this newsgroup
(comp.home.automation) is not a 'frontier technology'. However there are
important areas that _are_ at the bleeding edge of technology and social
organization.  (And if you search this newsgroup, you will find many
topics other than how to retrofit 30-year-old X-10 technology to existing
homes in the least expensive way possible.) See my last point in this post
(#8).

4) "based around ... X-10 protocol." If you have done any research in this
area, you will know that the list of corporations that have chosen this
model and failed completely, utterly and permanently include IBM, GE,
Sears, Zenith, RCA, Stanley, Radio Shack and many, many others. What do
you know that they didn't? If you can't answer that question, or -- more
likely -- answer it wrong, you too sh/would fail.

5) You _are_ on the right track by apparently focusing on the usability
and human interface solutions that Apple might bring to bear.

6) The principal insight into what you consider "home automation" (X-10
and INSTEON ) involves primarily lighting which is but a subset. The
security market/function is at present many, many times larger than the
automated lighting marketing.

7) With respect to security, the Apple image and the me-Centered approach
may be liability as presently framed IMO.   I, for one, do not want Apple,
or any computer company involved directly in my home security system. That
is a deal breaker for many folks, now and for the foreseeable future owing
to real and perceived security and dependability reasons.


A key issue IMO:


8) You need to successfully address the security problem (7 above) which
is both an image and a technology issue. Apple might indeed have the
required combination of social deftness, marketing panache, and technical
expertise to reframe the "security" HA function (to which traditional
'computers' and their makes are typically  unwelcome in the present
climate) to a different paradigm around sharing, e.g.,  of awareness,
presence, distributed house/baby/etc-sitting responsibilities functions
and around sounds and images rather than around private hardwired yes-no
decisions (alarm on --> call police.)

The title and premise of a recent post with subject "Stupid home
non-automation  product" gives a hint of the resistance to
non-quantitative, non-action, non-deterministic HA and security functions
in some quarters. But the portion of the potential HA market represented
by comp.home.automation is miniscule (but bigger than google groups! , so
this is a matter of understanding where HA has been, not necessarily where
it is going IMO.


HTH ... Marc
Marc_F_Hult
www.NeuralHome.org