Apple's Siri-Based Smart Speaker Has 'Over 50% Chance' of Debuting at WWDC in June

[rp2011]

The main reason I would consider this is as just a Bluetooth speaker. Especially if it's better than what's on the market right now. The rest is icing on the cake. I've been considering getting a Bluetooth speaker for a while but was waiting for both my phone and speaker to have the new low latency specs that were revealed a few months ago.

 

[imronburgundy]

"Siri, set meeting for 10:30 am: Meeting with John"

I'm sorry, I can't do that. Please continue on your phone.

Pass

 

[chrisbru]

But what will it do differently from Amazon's Echo? I'm an Apple fan but what can they bring different to the table?

It will integrate with:

• iTunes library and Apple Music, which would be enough for me. No more having to re-create playlists and such on Amazon Music Unlimited.
• Homekit. Yeah, this is on your phone, but lets everyone in the house have quick access to changing the temperature or checking if the garage door is closed. And I'm sure a lot of people don't have "Hey Siri" enabled on their iPhones.
• Possibly AppleTVs as well. Would be nice to say "Hey Siri, turn on living room AppleTV and load HBO Now" as I'm grabbing a drink before Game of Thrones comes on.

 

[pmau]

I don't understand what Apple wants tell sell me here.
Let's just assume Siri would work well, here's the strange part of the strategy.

- Apple TV 4 has a microphone and Siri. Should I control ATV from this speaker? Why?
- My phone would understand "Hey Siri!", but the functionality is limited and requires additional (manual) interaction.
- If the API are limited to this device, why shouldn't I buy an open API instead?
- Apple HomeKit is a failure in my book.

My conclusion:

Apple wants to sell a $500 device that will only work within their strictly controlled limits
It will not compete with the ATV because it's not a media hub. The half-baked TV App is (or should be).

Speakers are available already with a wide variety of quality and price.

It will never tie in to existing online shopping / Apple Pay infrastructure.
That already failed on ATV and the Mac.

In my opinion this is just a "We need an AI product, even if it doesn't do anything!!".
Apple seems to chase the competition, a position Apple cannot be good at, because they rely on premium pricing.

Apple needs a portable media hub with storage that ties in to ATV and can mange your accounts and subscriptions.
If it would also cache iTunes and App Store Updates on your local WiFi I would buy it.
It does not need a quality speaker, but it definitely needs to connect to existing equipment.

And we all know that Apple will never build that kind of gadget.
In the meantime, Google and Amazon can extend their reach and quality of service.

 

[DrumApple]

Per usual, too late to the game. And a game that isn't very profitable nor in high demand.

 

[MH01]

Fix Siri first. Alexa etc are not successful , due to the hardware....it's the software

 

[MistrSynistr]

I can't imagine Siri working at this level. I have an Echo and it's amazingly accurate and fast. Siri is just a train wreck.

Echo is not as good as you people are making it out to be. It's probably correct on like 30% of tries.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Under Tim Cook, Apple does not innovate. They just copy what others are doing. The glory days of Apple are long gone...

The AirPods are innovative, the iPhone 7 Plus with the dual cameras for taking portraits, paying with your phone or watch is mainstream, I use the new MacOS feature of having my Desktop/Documents in the cloud and it works really well, recycling and the use of renewable energy, their Swift language for application development along with Xcode.

Where Apple could improve with innovation is Action Cameras, Drones, Robotics, VR/AR, more factory automation to replace labor jobs in factories to work in the US, Siri can be improved.

 

[Sinfonist]

What's that? Like, what's an Amazon Echo and what real-life use and benefits does it provide?

You can control heating/cooling and other home appliances by voice. You can easily add items to your
electronic shopping list, even while performing other tasks. You can set voice-activated triggers for IFTTT controls. It recognises any voice and anyone can use it with very little training. It links to lots of devices, not just from one manufacturer.

What problems does it aim to solve? Thanks!

For the Amazon Echo, specifically:

• Access to various information sources (but these are mostly not good enough yet to be useful, or are too clumsy to use easily).
  
• Links to your Amazon account for quick purchases/order tracking.
• Plays music under voice control (but only from e.g. your Amazon Music account and the Echo audio quality is not good enough to replace a radio unless you connect it to an external speaker).
• New capabilities can be easily added.

The motivation for Amazon to produce it is presumably to make it easier to buy Amazon goods and services, but the lack of security means that you would have to be very brave to set that up. Long term, there is some potential for good information provision and seamless control of multiple devices, but it's going to take a few years' work to get there.

Based on experience so far, I'd expect a Siri speaker to be less capable and useful than an Echo
(I've disabled Siri on all my own devices - it's basically just a distraction to me).

 

[Peperino]

I guess Apple is recycling the cases from the old Mac Pro since the Mac Pro did not work so well...

 

[nightcap965]

Homekit. Your house doesn't move, your "light switch" shouldn't move either.

If you're referring to my Homekit hub, that's the Apple TV or a handy iPad. The statement that my light switch shouldn't move is absurd. Of course it should, else why would I want Homekit in the first place?

 

[deany]

Echo is not as good as you people are making it out to be. It's probably correct on like 30% of tries.

I find Alexa to be 90+% accurate
Siri (probably hardware to be fair) less that 50% accurate.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Our iPhones (plural) ARE the Apple TV remotes. I don't understand your objection.

And I really don't understand a use case for this - we've got access to Siri on our wrists and in our pockets and (at the moment) on my lap. What I really need is for someone to write a shopping list program that uses Siri. (Don't tell me about Reminders until you can make it sortable and add categories like stores or aisles.) What I really need is for someone to create an editing tool for the iTunes database so that Siri can actually *find* anything in my library. What I really need is for Siri to play a desired Audible audiobook.

What I don't need is another so-called "hub" from Apple. I bought the Hub when it was in an iMac. I bought it when it was an Airport. I bought it when it was the Apple TV. So far, the promise of a Hub has never been realized.

Not everyone is you. Not everyone wears an Apple Watch. Not everyone even has an iPhone. If you do, great- there may not be a use case for you. But again, not everyone is you.

This product- if it comes to market- may be aimed at the billions of other people that don't have Apple Watches & iPhones. I know that can be almost impossibly difficult to imagine but one can easily do the math to know that it is true.

Or it may be aimed at families in which only one or some have an iPhone that often leaves that house with that one or some. When a watch and/or phone leaves a home, those left behind might still want to use Siri to do something as mundane as play some music... rather than waiting until a watch or phone comes home.

Or maybe it's entirely useless but Apple sees competitor products selling in enough volume to roll one out just as a pure play for the revenue. Why do we need Beats headphones? Why do we need bluetooth earbuds? Why do we need another watch? Why do we need an iPhone? Depending on an individuals own situation, why do we need anything from Apple? Maybe we do... or don't... but for those who are not us... maybe they don't... or do.

Apparently, Apple thinks a slice of a market wants one of these from Apple. I suspect Apple could put poop in a box and brand it iPoop or Apple Poop and sell huge numbers of boxes with some proclaiming it as "the finest poop ever" and "how did we ever get by without this poop?" In other words, Apple seems to be in a position to box up just about anything and sell a bunch of that anything on brand momentum alone. This particular thing doesn't seem to be a big stray for Apple's current offerings. So why not?

If everyone is you, nobody will buy and Apple will learn their new product development lesson (to check with you first).

 

[44267547]

The main reason I would consider this is as just a Bluetooth speaker. Especially if it's better than what's on the market right now. The rest is icing on the cake. I've been considering getting a Bluetooth speaker for a while but was waiting for both my phone and speaker to have the new low latency specs that were revealed a few months ago.

I almost purchased the Google Home. Then decided to wait until Apple knowingly would release their version, which seems it would be more fitting with my other Apple devices and home automation. It would be an ice supplement to Apple's ecosystem.

 

[CausticSoda]

That's usually how percentages work, yes.

No, it means there is somewhere between 0 % and 49 % chance of it not appearing.

 

[DevNull0]

Sweet. Another half-baked "ME TOO" product that nobody wants and nobody cares about while their core products fall farther behind.

 

[DoctorDoctor]

with an iphone I carry all the time or even airpods, apple watch I can speak too and even siri on my mac, it makes these devices redundant unless i'm missing something.

I'm more than likely to wear my watch/carry iphone/be wearing my airpods than be in the same room talking to this thing.

Then this is not for you. I on the other hand do not carry my iPhone from room to room. Nor do I always have my Apple Watch on. I have 4 Echos and absolutely love them. Can't imagine being without them now. I hope Apple does what they usually do and that is take what is already out there and makes it better. Complete integration with the rest of my Apple gear/ecosystem and this thing will replace my Echos. Well, assuming Apple steps up Siri with iOS 11.

 

[CaryMacGuy]

You can have wireless speakers throughout your house filling your home with a constant flow of your favourite music from your iTunes Library subscription; And have an assistant to set your lights to various colour schemes and tell you what the weather will be like.

But if you already have all that from other vendors then I'm not sure why you'd switch.

Oh my wife would hate that...she hates when I crank up the music on the Apple TV connected to my surround sound system.

 

[imicca]

That's what people said with the smart watch market. This isn't a mainstream category yet

to be honest, Smartwatches did not take off and I am not sure if they will, ever...outside geek world.

 

[routine_analyst]

This would explain the recent shuffle with the Airport team. Replace the simple basestation with this in every room and place the router within it...

 

[nightcap965]

Not everyone is you. Not everyone wears an Apple Watch. Not everyone even has an iPhone. If you do, great- there may not be a use case for you. But again, not everyone is you.

This product- if it comes to market- may be aimed at the billions of other people that don't have Apple Watches & iPhones. I know that can be almost impossibly difficult to imagine but one can easily do the math to know that it is true.

Or it may be aimed at families in which only one or some have an iPhone that often leaves that house with that one or some. When a watch and/or phone leaves a home, those left behind might still want to use Siri to do something as mundane as play some music... rather than waiting until a watch or phone comes home.

Or maybe it's entirely useless but Apple sees competitor products selling in enough volume to roll one out just as a pure play for the revenue. Why do we need Beats headphones? Why do we need bluetooth earbuds? Why do we need another watch? Why do we need an iPhone? Depending on an individuals own situation, why do we need anything from Apple? Maybe we do... or don't... but for those who are not us... maybe they don't... or do.

Apparently, Apple thinks a slice of a market wants one of these from Apple. I suspect Apple could put poop in a box and brand it iPoop or Apple Poop and sell huge numbers of boxes with some proclaiming it as "the finest poop ever" and "how did we ever get by without this poop?" In other words, Apple seems to be in a position to box up just about anything and sell a bunch of that anything on brand momentum alone. This particular thing doesn't seem to be a big stray for Apple's current offerings. So why not?

If everyone is you, nobody will buy and Apple will learn their lesson (to check with you first).

Never said everyone is me, or has the same needs. However, I am a long-time Apple Fanboi. We who happily reside in the Walled Garden are the target audience for anything written in MacRumors. So no, I don't take the needs of people who would be better served by an Echo into consideration when questioning the need for this device.

 

[rp2011]

Per usual, too late to the game. And a game that isn't very profitable nor in high demand.

Bluetooth 5 is only on the new Galaxy 8, so if you haven't gotten one, you're in luck that you didn't get any Blutooth 4 device.
[doublepost=1493658068][/doublepost]

I almost purchased the Google Home. Then decided to wait until Apple knowingly would release their version, which seems it would be more fitting with my other Apple devices and home automation. It would be an ice supplement to Apple's ecosystem.

Yep! And as I said, Bluetooth 5 is just getting on the market, so if you haven't gotten a Bluetooth speaker, you did good on waiting.

 

[daanodinot]

I'm very curious about how the SQ of this speaker will compare with the Sonos Play:1.

I don't give a rat's ass about Siri. However, if the SQ is great and it integrates with the Music app (which Sonos doesn't), this will make a great dumb music speaker.

 

[Rob_2811]

Bluetooth 5 is only on the new Galaxy 8, so if you haven't gotten one, you're in luck that you didn't get any Blutooth 4 device.
[doublepost=1493658068][/doublepost]

Yep! And as I said, Bluetooth 5 is just getting on the market, so if you haven't gotten a Bluetooth speaker, you did good on waiting.

I would be very surprised if this Apple Speaker supports Bluetooth 5.

 

[rp2011]

I would be very surprised if this Apple Speaker supports Bluetooth 5.

Why?
I would be surprised if it didn't.
It would be crazy to unveil a new product that' is essentially obsolete on arrival.

 

[639051]

Echo is not as good as you people are making it out to be. It's probably correct on like 30% of tries.

My echo dot has had a single instance where it didn't understand what I said. It has had enough instances of just not knowing what to look for, but as far as understanding me goes .. it's 99% accurate. Siri on the other hand is a pile of trash that I just don't bother with anymore.