Japanese Atom Cam With HomeKit Due March
It would be fair to say at this point, that whilst Japan is, in many ways, considered technologically advanced compared to much of the west, when it comes to HomeKit adoption, they’re definitely still playing catch up. Japanese smart home company Atom is also aware of this and have taken it upon themselves to pick up some momentum for HomeKit adoption, with their forthcoming Atom Cam.
Now you probably already recognise this camera off the back of the success with the Wyze version (Wyze Cam), and even before that, with the Xiaomi version (Xiao Fang Camera), neither of which are HomeKit compatible. Atom wants to take this camera into the HomeKit realm and has already started a crowdfunding campaign to get this camera launched, with a proposed release date of March 2020 (not a lot of time then…)
The company are close to meeting their goal of ¥10 million, with support currently at 84%. They do have to reach their goal by February 28th though, which seems a bit close, and is a reflection of the lack of take-up for HomeKit devices in general, where cameras of this type are generally only used to keep an eye on pets.
What is interesting about this camera, apart from the prospect of HomeKit support, is that it will support NAS, so you’ll be able to store your recordings to a separate network drive, as well as upload footage to either Google Drive or Dropbox. The camera will also support ONVIF (Open Network Video Interface Forum).
There is one caveat, however, and something that seasoned HomeKit ‘early adopters’ will have seen before, and which is that HomeKit support and NAS storage options are listed on the website as being added ‘after product release’ via a future firmware and application update.
The camera is currently available to preorder for ¥1980 (around US$18), so very cheap for a basic HomeKit camera, but as many have said, don’t buy something on the promise of HomeKit, just wait and see if it’s added before buying. You can check out the promotional video below or visit the company’s crowdfunding page for more information.
