Apple has pretty much killed the wireless touch panel for the home automation market with the iPad and iPod Touch — and if you feel like they haven’t, then let me rephrase the previous sentence with, “Apple will soon kill the wireless touch panel…”. It’s really hard to sell a wireless panel these days that costs more than triple the cost and in most cases, of less quality and has 10x’s less battery life than the Apple devices.
Now, I understand the limitations of using an iPod Touch and iPad for home control and I have heard the argument that a touch panel that is dedicated gives the user quicker access than powering up the i-Device, sliding to unlock, then either launching or resuming the application, wait for a slight delay of the wifi to connect and a few seconds later, controlling the system.
Sure, I agree.
I also agree that some in-wall panels also act as an “embedded” server which needs to be on all the time — something the Apple device isn’t designed to do — those are all valid points. However, for casually controlling your lights, music, security, viewing cameras, adjusting temperature, and so forth, the Apple mobile devices are a home run!
That’s why I got excited to see the NOW SHIPPING touch/iPad in-wall mount system from iPort. The iPort CM-IW100T (CM100) Control Mount for the iPod touch encases an iPod touch in a wall-mounted chassis with a magnetically attached, rectangular bezel, as does the iPort CM-IW2000 (CM2000) for Apple’s iPad, transforming the handheld devices into in-wall touchscreens running apps from any control system over WiFi. The device is powered over CAT5 — audio output is also carried over the Cat5 cable which can be fed as an audio source into a whole house audio system — think Pandora App or even the iPod Player, however, that will require you occasionally pull the iPod/iPad out of the panel to sync as Apple doesn’t offer wifi syncing.
The iPort CM100 retails for $250.00, while the iPad version retails for $499.00. I’ll try to get one in for review soon…
– iPort – CM Series
View Comments (6)
$250 for a piece of plastic to hold a iPod touch, which you can buy for $160 (today, 3rd generation, 8gb).
Something is clearly very very wrong with this market.
I guess it has some passive stuff for routing audio/power, but it has no cpu, no gpu, no ram, no display, no touchscreen, no battery, no speakers, no wifi, etc..
Yeah, but look at the bright side, it's still way cheaper than a "home automation" panel. Also, before Apple was giving away the "bumpers" those were selling for $30 and it was just a small about of plastic...
Innovative idea, isn't it? I like the idea of turning your iPod into an In-Wall Panel It is a good thing the the conventional iPod can be turned into many useful things. More power. Thanks for the ideas shared.
Innovative idea.Thanks.
How much it will cost?
The iPad in wall looks great.