The iPad as your new central hub

(photo: ohad)

What if you could control the house around you with nothing but an iPad?

It’s coming.

I remember watching Cribs years ago as some actor showed a clunky handheld computer that he carried around his house that could control the lights, the blinds, the TV, etc.. No doubt that whole system was pretty expensive. And now it’s getting cheaper. Imagine the iPad as that new handheld computer but sleek, sexy and connected to your house full of receivers.

The front door, the blinds, the tv, the lights, the oven, the refrigerator, the shower, the thermostat, the alarm system, the garage door and maybe your car will, in the next few years, begin to connect to your mobile device like never before.

Right now, a company called Schlage provides the equipment and the app (Schlage Link) as seen in this iPhone commercial, where a mother turns her home lights off from Denver International Airport.

Starter kits are pricey, starting at $223 on Amazon.com, and allow a homeowner to wire their front door. Schlage also provides connections to the lights, home webcams and the thermostat as add-on modules. 

With the release of the iPad though the market for these technologies will undoubtedly increase and with the demand up, the prevalence and cost of the technology to be installed in the house will drop.

Apple’s positioning of the iPad between the Macbook and the iPhone means that the iPad will likely be a household device while the laptop and the phone roam with their owners, right? Suddenly, setting the oven to 425 degrees no longers requires anyone in the kitchen and turning up the heat can be done from the comfort of your warm bed. 

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