The Apple iPhone may be the quintessential nomadic device, but it’s being co-opted by the home automation industry to use as a wireless remote—over Wi-Fi around the house, over cellular when out and about.

Could the power of iPhone mania actually help kick-start the perennially not-quite-ready-for-prime-time home automation market? That might be a bit much to expect, vendors and analysts say, but piggy-backing on the fastest-selling cell phone in the world certainly can’t hurt the industry.

The first iPhone remote product is already available. More are coming. At the launch of the AppStore, Apple’s online source for iPhone applications, Apple itself launched Remote.

Remote, which is free, lets you use an iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control iTunes, Apple’s music library and media server program for the Mac and Windows. When used with a wireless media player, it’s a poor man’s whole-home audio system.

Since then, home automation vendors Lagotek Corp. and iControl Networks Inc. have announced iPhone software that will let you do everything from dimming lights without getting up to viewing live surveillance camera video when you’re away from home.

Lagotek and iControl both make IP-based control solutions that work over Wi-Fi or Ethernet networks. They integrate and manage home automation devices and systems from multiple vendors, using various technologies to go the last ten feet—Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, Zigbee, RS232, powerline.

“The iPhone is a key part of our strategy,” says iControl CEO Paul Dawes.

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