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Gurman: Apple Still Working on Combined HomePod and Apple TV With FaceTime Camera

RedTheReader said:
I can’t believe they killed the original HomePod. And to think, when it came out, I really thought we’d see an eventual HomePod Max. Ohhhh, how wrong I was! Ohhhhhhh, the humanity!

Rest easy, HomePod. You were one of the good ones. Sorry you have to see… whatever this thing is replace you.
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I like my HomePod, but the Mini is a much better targeted product. The $300 price for a speaker only tied to Apple was a bit much.
 
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Premium1 said:
Gurman just throws things at the wall and sees what sticks.
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This is basically the same as what Google and Facebook both already have. My brother really likes the Google Nest Hub. It lets you use voice, but also shows results on a screen you can read thru or give it commands with.
 
No idea if this is actually true but if it's not, it should be.

Could be a killer product if Apple does it right.
 
So this sounds like a device that sits next to your TV. How would Facetime work? And doesn't almost everyone with an Apple TV already have an iPhone/iPad (which already has Facetime)? What's the point of having Facetime on this TV speaker? Seems redundant and something that will get little use, in reality.
 
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Love the original HomePod. Still using it in stereo pair as Dolby Atmos. Hate the HomePod mini. The sound is just too tiny, like when Bose came out with their acoustimass without a subwoofer.

I would rather have a separate Apple TV + HomePod Gen2 so I can keep on using the speakers as a speaker and then replace the Apple TV as needed.
 
Orange Bat said:
My guess is that it will come in between $399 and $499. IMO, that‘s too expensive for casual users like myself. In fact, the Apple TV 4K is still too expensive considering the cost of the competition. It needs to be about $50 less than it is now. You can pick up a Roku Ultra (my current streaming box) for $69 at Amazon (normally $100). You can buy a decent soundbar with Roku built in at $179, the same price as the Apple TV.
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Unfortunately, I think you're right. The Apple TV is already quite expensive when compared to other streaming boxes, and adding a smart speaker and a camera to it will only make it worse. I'd say $399 if we're lucky.
 
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A camera on a device that’s likely to be across the room? A camera that’s likely to be (possibly substantially) offset from the line of sight toward the screen? A device that integrates speakers and AppleTV — distinct points of failure each of which carries the expense of replacing the still functioning part — where the distinct functions don’t typically need to be upgraded simultaneously?

It sounds, in the abstract, like kind of a cool thing, but I’d probably just stick with plugging my AppleTV into my AVR.
 
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I still love my three HomePods and am starting to wish I bought even more. It's nice to see them getting full support and updates as if they were never discontinued, and maybe execs at Apple will forget they discontinued it at all.
 
All the hardware to do this is already in the Studio Display:
- fancy speaker(s)
- A13 & storage for Apple TV & Siri
- webcam

And it even has a built-in display!

All it's missing is an Apple TV remote...
 
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jmgregory1 said:
When was the last time anyone saw a commercial for either an Alexa or Google smart speaker? If I had to guess, the market is saturated and will require some new feature set, perhaps like an Apple HomePodTV, to drive further growth. But even if they make something like this, it still feels like it will be a niche product geared towards people who already are in the Apple ecosystem.
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Combining a HomePod, and FaceTime Camera with a Apple TV is not appealing IMHO. You already have a IPhone, Ipad, and Macs that can do FaceTime, why would need your TV to become a VTC. There aren’t any vendors pitching inexpensive webcams for turning your household TVs into VTC’s. This seems more of a rumor concerning how to save our larger HomePod from obsolescence tactic, not something that is portable and useful that people would buy this in addition to the Apple Devices that support FaceTime presently.
 
Orange Bat said:
My guess is that it will come in between $399 and $499. IMO, that‘s too expensive for casual users like myself. In fact, the Apple TV 4K is still too expensive considering the cost of the competition. It needs to be about $50 less than it is now. You can pick up a Roku Ultra (my current streaming box) for $69 at Amazon (normally $100). You can buy a decent soundbar with Roku built in at $179, the same price as the Apple TV.
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I recall a recent story about how some Roku TVs were starting to pop up ads over live broadcasts based on commercials. Not sure how serious or future-facing that is, but I know I'll never EVER see that on an AppleTV.
 
Apple Knowledge Navigator said:
Why are we giving this guy time? He’s not mentioned any source for this, it’s just his wish list.
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Big Brother, brutha. A home assistant with a built in camera? It's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Y'all Party members have fun with that. I'm keeping my prole (_!_) away from all these home assistant/smart home gizmos.

Even in the most benign vision of the future (Star Trek) where this technology is prevalent, the computer/Siri/Alexa is always watching.?

Apple might not be recording [yet], but some inventive hacker could hijack my HomePod and get the full monty.?
 
HomePod in a soundbar form factor makes a great deal of sense. It would certainly ease out of the box experience. Having to purchase 2 HomePods to get true stereo sound, not to mention having to tinker with Apple TV's settings to get the best home theater sound out of HomePods can be confusing to some.

I hope it would external HomePods for improved surround sound steering.

Apple should offer 2 configurations: HomePod TV mini at $349-449 (Sonos Beam costs $449) and HomePod TV Pro at $799-899 (Sonos Arc costs $899).
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
Logically, if it has FaceTime but doesn't have an immediate proximity screen, what is the person on the other end seeing? Eyes looking at the TV instead of the person. Think about anything you have that has FaceTime now. Key to a good experience is camera and screen as close together as possible. Now imagine pulling that camera off of your current device and putting it somewhere else. Move it even a few inches away and what the person on the other end sees if you not looking back at them. For instance, airplay your phone video to your TV right now. Start FaceTime call but look at your TV screen instead of phone. What does your recipient see?

If you lack the imagination to know, take a selfie... but instead of the usual kind where you look at the lens, hold iDevice a little left, right, above or below your Mac screen, look at the Mac screen instead of iDevice (Mac filling in for your TV in this example) and shoot the image. Now look very tangibly at what the person on the other end would see. Even if you position the camera only a few inches above, below, left or right of the screen, THAT will always look like THAT.

Merging FaceTime camera physically into AppleTV + HomePod means that the ONLY place you could put this "Frankenstein" is directly in front of TV, as close as possible to the screen. Where is the camera? If top of Frankenstein, you must put this HomePod at the bottom of your TV screen. If much below that, you'll appear to be looking over their head instead of at them.

If HomePod form factor, putting Frankenstein down there would likely block a chunk of the TV screen. For example, if you put a HomePod under the TV, you probably create a bottom faux-notch that is the HomePod blocking a chunk of the bottom of the screen. You can't tuck it behind, else you block the FaceTime camera. You can't put it on a shelf several inches below (to not have a faux notch). Else, it looks like you are looking over their head.

But wait, some people put their soundbars ABOVE the TV when both are mounted on the wall. OK, so will the FaceTime camera be built into the very BOTTOM of the device to get it as close to the screen as possible in that scenario? Else, to the person on the other end, it will look like you are looking down at their belly instead of at them because camera is too far above screen.

But wait, some people mount the soundbar UNDER the TV on the wall. So that could eliminate the faux notch by careful positioning but then the camera needs to be on the TOP of the device to get it as close to the screen as possible for these people.

See the challenges here? Is a singular solution mounting Frankenstein upside down in some instances to get camera closest to screen (perhaps putting the Apple logo or controls upside down too). Are there 2 units developed with camera on top and camera on bottom?

If this is a real product dev desire at Apple, it seems the ideal would be to revive a USB port on the AppleTV- fully functional this time- so that those who want a FaceTime camera on their TV can do it with a separate, smallish camera (AppleTV "dongle") mounted wherever they like around their TV. Think original iSight camera. A relatively tiny camera won't need the bulk of a speaker/soundbar + AppleTV to potentially get in the way. Then put your AppleTV and optional speaker wherever you like.

OR, do this in software whereby a person can prop their iDevice up against the TV with camera facing forward for a temporary, iDevice-sized notch but camera in the right general spot to make it work pretty well.

Similarly, those who desire HomePod speaker sound very close to their AppleTV can plug one into that USB jack much like soundbar people plug an HDMI cable into a HDMI ARC jack to take over TV sound. Or simply do the same as typical soundbar with HDMI pass through. That flexibility to add that level of sound WHEREVER a user wants to place their AppleTV seems better than pressing for it to be in a single, relatively precise location to maximize FaceTime too.

Else, you have a Frankenstein device with all kinds of challenges unless you happen to have a situation that will allow you to position it exactly where the designer thinks EVERYONE should position it.

I think the idea of FaceTime on big screen TV is a great idea. But it can be managed much better than building a Frankenstein device as described here.
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You do a great job explaining the difficulties inherent with this idea/device but land on “I think the idea of FaceTime on big screen TV is a great idea.” — I can’t help but disagree.

I don’t think the living couch makes much sense for a FaceTime call. It’s just not a natural place for a phone call. I think this new device must bring its own screen, for many of the reasons you outlined.

My dream is that Apple releases a smaller Studio Display that comes with tvOS loaded on it - technically an updated version to support FaceTime. I’d put that in my kitchen in a heartbeat. My iPad Pro is essentially exactly that at this point, it rarely ventures away from the kitchen because it brings so much utility there.
 
AppleHeadPhx said:
How about a HomePod + Apple TV with WiFi extender capabilities built in as well?
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Why want all that in one thing? Else, why not Home Pod + AppleTV + Wifi Extender + iPhone + iPad + MBpro + Mac Desktop? All in one concepts can seem great up front but then one part ages too much or is obsoleted by software and you may have to throw it all out. I'm experiencing this right now with an AIO iMac: Apple obsoleted it with macOS updates and now some bit of the tech is blinking out... yet there's still a perfectly good FaceTime camera, screen, speakers, storage, etc in there. One part goes and it almost junks all of the rest.

Speakers can easily last 10+ years without losing anything. So HomePod-type stuff probably has the longest useful longevity of anything Apple makes (assuming the software parts are updated for the life the speaker). For most, HomePod should sound as good in 8-12 years as it does today.

AppleTVs are good for about half that time, until some new standard takes over or we jump aboard the next (8K) train. I know, I know: "nobody can see...", "the chart, the chart", etc- all the things we sling before Apple rolls out a new AppleTV with the next resolution jump to put down that hop... and then promptly drop such statements as soon as they do. I've seen that bash-then-gush/praise show at every hop: 720p to 1080p to 4K.

WiFi extenders might be good for 3-5 years until that standard is significantly updated. And of course, extender usually needs another hardware part to extend from, so that would mean Apple has to get back into the Airport (hardware) business. Great if they do but do they want to do that? Generally, you can't just pair any extender with any other router. So that seems all or nothing vs. just one part intended to work with the wide variety of other mesh routers.

The general perception among even the Apple faithful is AppleTV is too expensive. Add additional stuff to it and it will be MORE expensive.

Not everyone with AppleTV wants/needs some kind of soundbar/home pod speaker. For example, my AppleTVs are already linked to either discrete surround sound speakers hooked to a receiver or existing soundbars I would NOT want to toss to add one with a FaceTime camera.

Not everyone with HomePods wants one dead center of their TV (to get the camera in the right place for FaceTime). As is, it is generally good to spread HomePods out for left & right stereo. Yes, if Apple rolled out a HomePod "center" or soundbar, that would naturally go in the right zone but how many people really want FaceTime and AppleTV jammed into that same box? See useful timetables towards the top of this thread.

Not everyone with FaceTime usages want to do that on their TV... or want to pay up to be able to also do it on their TV. Instead they can use the fine quality FaceTime camera in their iDevice or Mac without having to spend an additional dollar. That also lets them position the camera right where they want it and FaceTime from anywhere. If this is the primary draw of this concept, accomplish this in the FaceTime software so that one can prop their iDevice up in front of their TV screen and airplay the person on the other end to that TV screen. Conceptual cost of that option: free.

Would some people be interested in this device? Of course. I'm confident Apple could box air and people would be tripping all over themselves to buy empty boxes... and then potentially smothering because they refuse to breathe anything but. But beyond the fans who will line up to buy ANYTHING, the market would likely have to be those wanting to pay up for what seems like the most expensive streamer in what is probably a premium priced soundbar attracted to the idea of using proprietary FaceTime through the thoroughly fixed location of their TV.
 
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Homepod got awesome around the same time they canceled it. I use mine as TV Speakers everyday in my office. And then use them as music speakers too. And a few times a year I move them to another room temporarily. VEry flexible. Probably why they got rid of them. lol.

An all-in-one Homepod/ATV product might be cool in some ways, but I would assume $800 +/- $200 pricepoint. And you can't upgrade only the AppleTV part.
 
jmgregory1 said:
When was the last time anyone saw a commercial for either an Alexa or Google smart speaker? If I had to guess, the market is saturated and will require some new feature set, perhaps like an Apple HomePodTV, to drive further growth. But even if they make something like this, it still feels like it will be a niche product geared towards people who already are in the Apple ecosystem.
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I haven’t seen any ads but I can tell you Alexa and Google are much more popular than HomePods. Most of my friends have Alexa. I have a couple of Google Nests, they sound great, priced better and are smarter than Apple’s HomePods.
 
t0rqx said:
It’s a rushed product to counter Google and Alexa. That being said these devices kind of died in silence.
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A device that we’ve heard very little about, that we have no actual images of, and no rumored release date yet is somehow a “rushed product.”
Thanks for letting us know.
Since you’ve got the inside scoop, tell us about the headset
 
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