Q&A: Home Integration Game Is A Solutions Play, Forrester Analyst Says

In an interview with CRN Editor Heather Clancy, Schadler discussed the home solutions market--including the home strategy of digital media kingpin Apple--as well as the interplay between retailers and home integrators and the potential impact of the blogosphere on VARs who aspire to make it in the digital home. For more coverage, see CRN's Home Integration page.

CRN: What role do you see Apple playing in the home integration movement?

SCHADLER: They do have a strategy. They don't talk about it much. They've made a pretty significant bet on a technology called Rendezvous. It's an open-source standard for digital media, discovery and streaming. It's the basis for their AirPort Express product, which is their 802.11 offering. Plug it into the wall, and it's got audio output and a printer output. So it's kind of below the surface. It's not their main message. But if you buy one of these things, a home router, you can stream from your iTunes library on your PC, your Macintosh or your Windows PC to a stereo. That's clearly home integration.

They use the same technology in the Mac mini. I don't know if you saw the announcement back in the winter when they made the move to Intel, [but] they gave it the 10-foot interface and a remote control and the ability to stream not just audio, but also video from your iTunes library.

So that's their home integration story at the moment. They're not making a big fuss about it because it is kind of low-fidelity, and it's not really at the core of their model. Their main model is still very PC- and iPod-centric. ...

That's very different from what Intel and Microsoft have done, which has been been to make a big investment in the UPnP [Universal Plug and Play] stack and to try to go straight to HD [high definition]. To go straight to HD, that's hard--maybe a little more than mainstream consumers are really ready for. So, for example, if you're going to stream HD, you need a better wireless standard or you need wires, because 802.11g and 802.11b don't cut it. So they--Microsoft and Intel--have had to make a bet on 802.11, and it's just not that widely available. Now they're all waiting for 802.11n, which is still a ways off.

CRN: How much do you think the Apple phenomenon is tied to the Apple retail stores?

SCHADLER: It all fits together. You can't really tease apart the Apple brand and Apple products--particularly the iPod--and the Apple Store. They kind of go together as components of a strategy.

A lot of times, people point to one thing and say, 'That's the strategy.' And it's usually not a complete look. For example, Southwest Airlines' strategy is lower than low-cost fares. It's also every airplane is a 737, and they use airports that are outside of town and are lower-cost. And they fly point to point and not through a hub, book online and allow people to switch without cost. These are all parts of Southwest's strategy. The same thing is true for Apple. So if they fall down with their products, the Apple Stores won't be as interesting.