Apple announced HomeKit, its attempt to make every lightbulb and lock talk to your iPhone, well over a year ago, but things that can actually whisper sweet nothings in your iDevice’s ears have been few and far between. Most notably, you haven’t been able to buy a HomeKit-enabled thermostat, something that changes today.
The Ecobee3 thermostat goes on sale in Apple Stores across North America starting this morning. For $250, you get a Nest that can talk to Siri: it plugs into your heating system, and using a network of sensors in each room (one included, two more available for $80), does all the supposedly-intelligent internet-connected things you’d expect a smart thermostat to do.
With the launch of the Ecobee3 — and the more that are certain to follow — HomeKit might finally start looking like a viable smart home platform. Whether or not you should make the leap, or just keep using switches like some 20th-century pleb, is a very different question.