Smart Watches To Have Starring Role In Future Of Smart Home Control

Good news, smart watch owner. If you thought that shiny new gadget was mainly just for monitoring health stats or getting alerts  about incoming messages, think again.

That's because soon you may be turning your lights on or off or arming your security system directly from your wrist.

Last year smart home integration with smart watches was mainly the stuff of early adopters, with some adventurous owners using services like IFTT to program simple commands to do things like turn lights on and off.

But in 2014  the smart home flood gates are opening, and lately it seems there's news practically every week of a new smart watch/smart home integration .

Last week at security industry show ISC West, smart home and security platform company Alarm.com showed off a Pebble being used to arm a security system.

This was around the same time that Samsung announced the global release of its smart home platform, which will be integrated with the Galaxy Gear 2 smart watch (apparently the Galaxy Gear 1, released only just last September, is yesterday's news even for Samsung).

Just a few weeks before, Pebble and Time Warner announced a new app that would allow users to control their Time Warner smart home security service from their Pebble.

This announcement was the result of smart home platform provider iControl working closely with Pebble. Since iControl also powers smart home services from big cable providers like Comcast , Cox and others, it won't be long before you see similar announcements of smart watch integration from these providers.

And speaking of iControl, they've  also announced their service will play nicely with Samsung's Galaxy Gear 2 as well.

Why the frenzy of activity to tie together the smart home with the smart watch? Because as I've written before, the smart watch is a logical control device for your surroundings because, chances are, it's always a glance away, unlike your smart phone in your pocket or that tablet all the way over on the kitchen table.

This constant presence also means your home can better understand you, as one of the key benefits of a smart home is contextual understanding of you and your surroundings.

And what about those who don't care for wrist watches, smart or otherwise?

Don't worry. Chances are soon you'll be able to use your Google Glass to turn on those lights.

Michael Wolf follows the smart home industry for NextMarket Insights.  Follow Michael Wolf on Twitter or listen to his smart home podcast, The Smart Home Show to keep on top of smart home trends.