Dialog Semiconductor, a provider of integrated power management, AC/DC power conversion, solid state lighting (SSL) and Bluetooth Smart technology, has announced a Bluetooth Smart development kit, with full support for Apple HomeKit, to accelerate development of smart home accessories.

In a recent report on the connected home, BI Intelligence predicts that the smart home market will grow at an annual rate of 67% between now and 2019, resulting in 1.8 billion accessories being shipped in that year.

"HomeKit is unifying smart home accessories with a common set of controls, user interface elements and end-to-end encryption which is an important step for the home automation market," says Sean McGrath, senior vice president and general manager, Connectivity, Automotive & Industrial Business Group at Dialog. "
Dialog's Bluetooth Smart development kit, based on its SmartBond(TM) DA14580 System-on-Chip (SoC), will help create accessories with the fastest response times, creating the best possible user experience. Initial pairing set up takes 4.5 seconds and pair-verify, which occurs whenever an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch issues a command, takes only 250 ms. The DA14580, which is available in a tiny 2.5 x 2.5 mm package, also offers the lowest power consumption in its class with a peak current of less than 5 mA, maximising battery life."

The kits are available now at https://mfi.avnet.com/MFI/ .