Back in September, Logitech announced its new Harmony line of devices, and with it a foray into the connected home. It was the same old remotes, but this time they were controlling more than just the electronics in your living room. Logitech envisioned its Harmony Hub, Remote, and companion app controlling all manner of different devices in your house, from lights to blinds.
Today the company is building on that with the launch of the Harmony API. Logitech’s Harmony products are already connected to more than 270,000 devices. By giving developers direct access to its API and opening up the Harmony platform, the company is hoping to facilitate the integration of many more products and services as well as specialized actions, like voice and gesture controls. This means you might soon be able to watch a movie or listen to music on your LG TV or Sonos sound system via the Harmony platform and a simple voice command like.
Logitech’s goal is to position itself as the connection between users and their smart devices. Though you might not think of a Logitech remote when you think Internet of Things or connected homes of the future, we will need ‘one device to rule them all’ once we start accumulating all of these smart devices. Your phone can do it via dedicated apps, but that’s not a simple solution. One remote to rule them all is a lot cleaner.
Logitech’s Harmony Mobile app already allows you to create “Activities” or sequences of events that are triggered by single tap. So you can tell the app, “Turn off the lights, close the blinds, and switch on TV because I want to watch a movie,” with just one tap of the movie Activity you’ve set up. Opening up the API to third parties will enable Harmony to do even more.
[source]Logitech[/source]
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