DoorBot vs iDoorCam

Some time ago there was a film about a meteor that was about strike the earth. It was Armageddon, starting Bruce Willis amongst others. That very same year another studio released Deep Impact, with Robert Duval & Morgan Freeman.  Different movies, same subject.

We’re still eagerly awaiting the arrival of our DoorBot, which is arguably delayed a bit. Imagine my surprise when today I read about iDoorCam, a very similar device to DoorBot, also crowd-sourcing their funding.

I guess great minds think alike. Of course, that’s only the first half of that quote.

DoorBot was originally to ship in July. Just as I’m writing this and looking at their web site I see that they now project availability in “early September.”

iDoorCam projects availability in October, according to their promotional video, “in plenty of time for the holidays.”

DoorBot looks to be larger, but costs a bit more. Both devices send their calls/notifications to a smartphone app.

To both companies I offer the same advice, think beyond the app. Don’t follow the FaceTime model of the walled-garden. Leverage existing standard protocols like SIP and XMPP.

The iDoorBotCam should be able to ring any SIP device on my home network. That way I can answer on the Polycom VVX-600 that’s on my desk or the Bria soft phone on my wife’s PC.

While DoorBot most definitely resembles Stanley Kubrick’s HAL 9000 the iDoorCam looks like it has more in common with our Nest thermostat. The big difference being that we actually have one of those.