The connected home seems to be a prime focus for tech companies these days, and why not?  Connected homes or smart homes, for the most part, eliminate wires, placing faith in networks and the cloud.  And with connected devices’ growing popularity, there are two major contenders in this game: Apple and Google.  They’re both vying for your home, controlling your entertainment, personal media and device line-up.  With rumors abound, both Apple and Google have the potential to own the connected home.  Here’s how.

Apple AirPlay

Apple is ahead of Google in terms of devices, as they entered the game back in 2004 with AirTunes, now called AirPlay, as you can now stream all kinds of media aside from music.  There are two components needed for AirPlay, the sender and the receiver.  The sender which includes computers running iTunes, iOS devices such as iPhones, iPods, and iPads running iOS 4.2 or higher, and computers running Mac OS X Mountain Lion which is scheduled for release in summer 2012.  The receiver includes the AirPort Express, the Apple TV, and third party speakers from partners such as Denon, Marantz, Bowers & Wilkins, JBL, and iHome.

Though Apple hasn’t unveiled their grand plan for the connected home, they’re already encouraging an ecosystem that could bring the Apple brand to the front of the line.

Savant Systems is a company dedicated to transforming “your Apple iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and even your traditional HDTV into your very own personalized control portal for everything that matters most in your life or business. Savant becomes your light switch, your thermostat, your personal media player, your on/off, open/close, up/down button from just about anywhere in the world.”

Savant just acquired LiteTouch, Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah, an industry pioneer in the residential and commercial lighting control marketplace since the late 1970s. The acquisition provides Savant with a widely recognized lighting control platform, as well as a broad range of best-in class keypad offerings to complement the company’s revolutionary iOS user interface solutions for residential and commercial control applications.

Though Savant is a separate entity from Apple, if Apple acquires Savant, this will clearly put them in the lead of the smart home phenomenon since everything is already set up.

Google’s Android@Home

Google has been showcasing their plans for a connected home since the Google I/O 2011 where they unveiled  Android@home, which allows Android apps to discover and engage with appliances and devices at home, and Project Tungsten on Android that enables Music Beta (now known as Google Music when it launched back in November) users to manage play back within the Android@home network.

And it seems like their project is near completion, as more news about Android@home surfaces.  Earlier this month, Google was said to be testing an entertainment device that accesses WiFi and Bluetooth-enabled devices in some of their employees’ homes and even filed a request with the FCC asking permission to test the device in 4 US cities, launching 252 devices.  And the hardware needed to become commercially available could be coming from Motorola Mobility, which is already in its final stages in being acquired by Google.

Google is also exerting extra effort in the cloud storage sector, which further proves how serious they are in creating a connected home.  Cloud storage plays a great role in connecting your devices.  You not only want to stream media in your devices, but you also want your data to be readily available in them.  Google is said to launching GDrive or Drive sometime in the near future.

This all ties in with another one of Google’s project – the voice-controlled GoogleTV remote.  Basically, instead of talking to your smart TV, which Apple is rumored to be doing as they are incorporating Siri to the iTV, users will be able to use their Android phone as the remote to make inquiries about TV shows and the TV will list what’s available. One perk over Apple’s iTV plans would be the remote control capabilities.

In the end…

Apple hasn’t really unveiled any plans for a connected home aside from AirPlay, but we all know that Apple is known for keeping things in the down-low until it’s time for the big reveal.

As for Google, we can’t deny that some parts of Android@home are quite impressive but it doesn’t really bring anything new to the table.  Maybe they’re trying to hold off until everything is complete so they can deliver that shock-and-awe effect that everyone will be talking about it for quite some time.