- "They could act as a high quality, whole home speaker system."
- There are rumors that the next Echo devices will have a home intercom feature plus Sonos speaker integration.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's Siri-Based Smart Speaker Has 'Over 50% Chance' of Debuting at WWDC in June
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
idk why people want these ridiculous in home assistant bases like echo and google home etc. They seem like such a waste of money and are near worthless. why do people want to speak to a speaker to ask about the weather when they have it on their phone? Who wants to hear music out of a tiny speaker system when they have a stereo? These things really can't do anything your smart phone / watch already can do. I get the whole connected home thing but honestly its just not there yet and the tech is stupid expensive. Smart thermostats just waste your home oil. I keep my house at 55 in the winter when I'm not there. I walk in and turn it up and start the wood stove. I don't need to set it for before I get home and waste oil/heat. I guess this whole thing just doesn't excite me. Let me know when a smart light bulb costs under $5
But my "light switch" is always in my pocket, and once I get a Watch it will always be on my wrist, too.
A woofer and 7 tweeters basically means omnidirectional sound radiation.
Wonder if Airplay will see any enhancements.
This speaker will probably be no more than $249. It's very difficult to justify any more than that given you have
Sonos at $199 and up and other Wifi speakers around that range.
Wonder if Airplay will see any enhancements.
This speaker will probably be no more than $249. It's very difficult to justify any more than that given you have
Sonos at $199 and up and other Wifi speakers around that range.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
It will undoubtedly do less than the Echo (at least initially). But the big play will be integration into the Apple Ecosystem. It will use Apple apps (calendar, reminders, mail, weather, messages, etc). It will know any information that siri knows. It will work seamlessly with Apple Music. Things like that.
Don't you need these in many different rooms to be useful? I thought that's why Amazon sells inexpensive multi-pacs. Isn't that a better way to go than "premium sound," or does anyone actually listen to music through these things?
Personally, I have audio systems, so I'd never use something like this for audio. But home control in every room could be nice.
Personally, I have audio systems, so I'd never use something like this for audio. But home control in every room could be nice.
Surprised if this doesn't end up being the new "Apple TV". Could serve as your speaker for your television, play content, act as your router, act as your homekit hub all in one. In other words, there will always be an Apple Tv, but this could be the alternative upgrade in some ways, if you're looking for an all in one solution. Surprised it's not in the shape of a soundbar, in some ways. Why not?
Made in the USA.
[doublepost=1493653461][/doublepost]
Not really sure but it seems if you have Airpods you could use only one in any room in your house.
Sonos? Don't get me wrong, I wish I could own Sonos, but a whole house system is pretty expensive.
You can do phone calls and send imessages from your iphone but some people were amazed that you can do it on a macbook too. Those are the ones that will be impressed by this speaker.
When looking to the comments section on MacRumors on any new article, you can go ahead and guarantee that the majority of the comments are going to be negative with old, worn out jokes, with inferences to "thinner", "courage", etc, etc.
I will never understand why people that hate a company so much are sitting on pins and needles to reply negatively, within seconds, to a new article that is posted. Why do so many people spend such an inordinate amount of time on an enthusiast website about a company that they supposedly hate and have moved on from?
Regarding the speaker. If Apple does it right, I will buy one to compliment the rest of my Apple products.
I will never understand why people that hate a company so much are sitting on pins and needles to reply negatively, within seconds, to a new article that is posted. Why do so many people spend such an inordinate amount of time on an enthusiast website about a company that they supposedly hate and have moved on from?
Regarding the speaker. If Apple does it right, I will buy one to compliment the rest of my Apple products.
if Apple is aiming for 'high end' market, my guess is that it'll be more than $249.
However, if they have a high price tag, it should have something that no competitor has, and therefore it will difficult to compare with another product solely on price.
.
Usually I'd agree but the iPod, iPhone (although I still say its a blatent ripoff of MS's Surface table concept - just shrunk down) and iPads defined the form factors for their time. Siri was the first "assistant" on mainstream portable devices. The iMac was the first all in one...
The first time the response is "would you like me to search the internet for that" when somebody asks her to do a basis thing.
A lot of socially awkward people inhabit MR. This is the highlight of their day having an audience on MR.
I have a Google Home and as much as I tend to have my iPhone with my my wife is the opposite..she comes home
and puts her phone down. We don't have Apple Watches yet so any smart phone only control isn't going to make
her happy hence our ownership of the Google Home for now.
I like Airplay speakers and the ability to move them around as need be. I know for my home which is firmly within
the Apple ecosystem that we'd use this type of device even more.
I remember growing up in a home with an intercom. It was an incredibly stupid waste of money. Just walk to the other room where the person is and talk to them face-to-face.
Which, admittedly, is not much -- especially when Siri is compared with Google and Alexa.
Yeah - I have to believe if they really have a product like this in the works, they will be showing it off in the context of what it will be able to do with iOS 11-level Siri.
[doublepost=1493654536][/doublepost]
I don't understand it all either, and I don't believe in this product category. I'm surprised to find that Apple does (allegedly) believe in this category. I have to believe they have a different angle in mind - like it does something else that would convince someone like me that this product should even exist.
I'm not going to yell across the room (or the house) for a device in a corner to do something for me. I have an iPhone and an Apple Watch....
True, however multiple story homes, kids in loft beds, bed ridden people can benefit as well as other situations.
Love all these "it will do X" comments. Yeah, no... NONE of you know what it will do, won't do, or what it'll look like. Stop pretending to have info, you're members of the public like we all are, YOU DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING.
Why can't you do this already? ATV has Siri and it's hooked up to my Stereo System already. Plus with all the apps. It never dawned on me really, but I can play music apps and everything already. The problem is Siri, just sucks and can't do much. It doesn't integrate with anything other than Apple apps.
But if I could pick up the ATV remote and say Hey Siri play Spotify or play music from my Shared Library (I will NEVER trust Apple's cloud services again) then there wouldn't be a need for this. So maybe something like this would make Siri by default better?
There have been some bad photoshop jobs on this site before, but this really takes the cake.
Not to mention you can just hook your phone up to your stereo via Bluetooth. It's the same thing really. The difference is, that it's not as convenient as an always on device. I suppose.