Apple places the iPhone at the center of the smart home

As was widely rumored in the weeks running up to the event, Apple unveiled something called HomeKit at the World Wide Developers Conference on Monday that will help developers build integrated smart and connected home products.

As was widely rumored in the weeks running up to the event, Apple unveiled something called HomeKit at the World Wide Developers Conference on Monday that will help developers build integrated smart and connected home products.

Senior vice president of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi said that the company has been working with the leaders in home automation to create the system. And although he didn't name names, what he did do is paint a very clear picture of the sort of things that the app will be able to do when it arrives on iOS devices as part of the next software update later this year.

Developed as much for security as for simplicity, it will make sure that only one iPhone can access and operate a smart appliance or connected device. This could mean employing the fingerprint scanner in the latest iPhone - because Apple is finally giving other companies access to it.

Federighi described a use-case scenario where simply saying to Siri "time for bed' will be enough to guarantee that all of the lights are off and all of the doors locked.

He also revealed that the app would allow control over individual items or to group together a number of items - say lights and music across the home, or the doors and thermostat.