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Apple’s HomeKit and HealthKit IoT Ecosystem on Display at the Apple Store

On a recent trip to the Apple Store in Stoneridge Mall, Pleasanton, California in late May 2016, it was interesting to see which Internet of Things (IOT) products Apple was promoting as part of their HealthKit and HomeKit ecosystem.

For a time Fitbit products were very visible at Apple Stores when Fitbit wearables like the Fitbit Flex were the 'It' products. Fitbit devices worked great with Apple iPhone and iPad products and together they formed a great fitness tracking and management solution. However, as Fitbit decided to go their own way with their own fully featured watch like the Fitbit Blaze and not support Apple's HealthKit, Apple kindly showed them the door to make more room for Apple's own Apple Watch. 

Today for fitness trackers, instead of Fitbit, you can find the Misfit Shine Speedo, Jawbone Up 2, MOOV NOW, Wahoo TICKR, and Wahoo KICKR Snap Bike Trainer. All these products are of course HealthKit compatible.

For more medical and health related compatible devices, the Apple Store has Beddit Sleep Tracker, Kinsa Smart Ear Thermometer, Withings Blood Pressure Monitor, and Withings WI-FI Scale & Health Tracker.  

For the home, Apple has you covered with HomeKit compatible devices like the Schlage Sense Lock, Elgato Eve Room Sensor, Elgato Eve Wireless Outdoor Sensor, and iDevices Switch to turn on/off your home devices with your iPhone/iPad.

Other HomeKit devices in the Apple Store include the Lutron Caseta Wireless Smart Lighting Dimmer, EcoBee WI-FI Thermostat, Nest Cam (formerly known as Dropcam), and FLIR Outdoor Security Camera, and Canary Security Device.

And then of course there is everyone's favorite IOT product, Tile, which was somehow placed in the wrong section for someone to "find".

With this rich IOT ecosystem ready for purchase today at any Apple Store, Apple really shows the power it has to quickly bring to market a working set of IOT products through Apple driven API's and frameworks such as HealthKit and HomeKit, vying against more fragmented approached by Google and others in the industry.