It will be interesting to see how much of this relies on the presence of existing hard wired systems, many of which are controllable over the network (e.g. Lutron, many security systems, etc). Writing to other peoples' APIs has not typically been Apple's strong suit. At the same time, wired-in infrastructure in a home is nothing like as disposable as the consumer technology Apple focuses on. There is no way I would want a closed system baked into my house. Hard-wired infrastructure is something you're stuck with for decades.
Relevant to me as I'm in the rough-in phase of a whole-home remodel project. I struggled a lot with what level of control to use, before settling on a minimal Lutron system for some areas of the house, comfortable in the knowledge that if I get tired of the Lutron interface, I can create my own & poke it over the network. I understand most people aren't interested in this level of control, but they might be concerned when their interface becomes dated in 5 years and can't be replaced due to an incompatibility with the hard-wired infrastructure. I see this as a downside of closed systems like Control4.
Apple makes interfaces others will write to, though. Consider AirPlay now that Apple's not in the speaker business, or CarPlay as they don't make cars. Or even PassBook, which while not open enough to allow payment methods, is still very open in that anyone can make passes and send them by email.
I have Control4 in my house. I don't think it's really accurate to say it's hard-wired. There are some devices that take an ethernet connection (some of the touchscreens, for example). But most of it (and everything I have) communicates over Zigbee. The light switches and dimmers connect in to exactly the same way a regular light switch or dimmer does, which I think is the same as Lutron. And then it talks wirelessly to a little black box that sits in the closet. There's no extra wiring or anything required.
I don't disagree that it would be a hassle to replace all of my switches and stuff if I wanted to go to a different system. And I'd prefer there be a standard around this stuff. But using the term "hard-wired" think gives the impression that it's much more involved than it really is.
You're right that traditionally Control4 has not been hardwired - but note they're moving into panelized lighting control now, and my assumption was that system would only be controllable from their frontends unless you reverse engineered the protocol.
Relevant to me as I'm in the rough-in phase of a whole-home remodel project. I struggled a lot with what level of control to use, before settling on a minimal Lutron system for some areas of the house, comfortable in the knowledge that if I get tired of the Lutron interface, I can create my own & poke it over the network. I understand most people aren't interested in this level of control, but they might be concerned when their interface becomes dated in 5 years and can't be replaced due to an incompatibility with the hard-wired infrastructure. I see this as a downside of closed systems like Control4.