I’ve argued before that Elaborate control systems that we sell won’t ever go away. That there will always be a market for them in the upper end clientele that want the best and always hire people to do everything for them. I’ve also argued that hard button remotes will always be preferred by people to watch tv because they are faster than apps and they can be used without looking.

But today, I had to accept the fact that I’m wrong. I went into my 15 y/o daughter’s room and interrupted her watching Netflix. The Elan remote was in arms reach. But she switched to the Apple TV app on her phone to pause the show. This brought up a conversation about what I witnessed and she told me she prefers the individual device apps. I have pretty much everything in the house on the Elan system and have a lot of automation built in between devices and subsystems. But she would rather use all the individual apps.

I always thought people would prefer a control system when given the experience and choice. But now I’m thinking this may be wrong. That kids who have been raised on smartphones and tablets find separate apps natural and their preference. And it won’t be immediate, or probably anytime in the next few years. But the life of control systems is coming to an end.