Rumored Siri Speaker in Production Ahead of Possible WWDC Debut

[TallManNY]

I think there's a difference between this product and the iPhone/iPads and Apple is hurt by being so late.
First the iPhone - it may not have been the first smartphone, but it combined features never before seen and started a revolution in cellular devices. The iPad riding on the popularity of iOS and apps gave people something, and finally jump started the tablet market, though tablets are still languishing. In both cases, Apple wasn't "late to the game" per say, they took an existing product that was under-utilized and improved it in a way that consumers found very useful.

Now with this Siri thing, Google, MS and Amazon have superior digital assistants and there's little Apple can do to provide something that they haven't done yet, in fact Apple will only catch up to them. So in my opinion, Apple is indeed late to the game, and is hurt by their inferior Siri. One can hope (or expect) to see a vastly improved Siri but until I see it, I'm not so sure

They are late, and Siri is arguably inferior to Google. It isn't inferior to Alexa. Alexa's main advantage is the microphones, so Alexa gets better input that is easier for it to correctly understand. Alexa has the Applications. But I suspect the vast majority of users are like myself and my retired Mom (who I set up Alexa for). We have never downloaded any of those features.

I think Siri improves vastly when it is connected to eight microphones. Presumably there are software improvements happening as well. That is kind of a given, really. Apple can deliver a lot of features. For example, with integration with the Apple Watch it can have different users on the same device or a different level of privacy because it will know when I'm talking (because I'm also wearing my Apple Watch and the voice and Watch are largely in the same position in the room).

I think this is will be a bigger market than the iPad and closer to the iPod (in that everyone will have this device) and the smartphone.

 

[millerlite]

I don't think the maker of that mockup knows what the word "concave" means...

 

[gertruded]

Bradbury?

Orwell. 1984.

"The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely."

This device will be always on and listening in your home! Totally Orwellian.

 

[DudeDad]

Wonder if this will allow those of that like the idea of Sonos but won't buy one since its support is wishy washy for MY needs, a viable alternative.

And what happens if they come out with satellite speaker only (by Beats)


interesting times.

Sonos support is "wishy washy"? If you haven't purchased it, how can you comment on the support? I've had Sonos for 8 years and it's better than anything Apple has in terms of music delivery. AirPlay is a joke compared to Sonos.

 

[mkeeley]

Have 2 echo dots and love them. Would welcome this.

I had one, found it frustrating to use except for the simplest of tasks, so was glad I didn't get the expensive one. Gave it to my brother and his kids had fun with it though.

 

[4look4rd]

I have Siri, Alexa, and Cortana set up and Alexa is by far the most responsive one. Siri is unusable in my apartment because she always gets the command wrong, the range is limited, and it triggers all of my devices instead of just the nearest one.

 

[SuperHamster]

As long as it comes in a beautiful white cardboard box with silver apples on the sides, I'll buy it. After a week I'll chuck it into the closet where I keep my other pointless Apple stuff, like Apple TVs, Apple Watches and - first and foremost - 132kg worth of Apple dongles. That's why I really need the beautiful white cardboard boxes, to hold the dongles. Somehow it doesn't feel right to chuck all these small £40 genuine Apple dongles into an old shoe box.

 

[flat five]

I don't think the maker of that mockup knows what the word "concave" means...

maybe they were looking at it from the inside?
: )

 

[4look4rd]

Orwell. 1984.

"The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely."

This device will be always on and listening in your home! Totally Orwellian.

You carry your phone with you at all times right? That's even more invasive because it also tracks your location. Might as well add a wiretap at home because if the government really wants to listen they already can do it.
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I had one, found it frustrating to use except for the simplest of tasks, so was glad I didn't get the expensive one. Gave it to my brother and his kids had fun with it though.

I use it mainly for three things, controlling lights, setting timers when cooking, and controlling Spotify (I usually have my phone connected to my decent audio set up, but Alexa can still change songs even when the audio is not coming from her).

 

[Gudi]

I'm one of the first to get Amazon Echo and I use it every day.
Call me lazy but I use it to:
* Turn on and off different lights in my house;
* Control my ACs
* Set a timer (when I'm cooking, or playing with my cat)
* Check the traffic before I leave
* Check the weather forecast
* Listen to news
(I do the last three when I'm changing clothes and packing for the day)

Occasionally I use it to do other things like set an one-off alarm, or convert units. I don't usually use it to listen to music. I was skeptical when I first received my Echo but I have to say it vastly exceeded my expectations.

Competition is always welcomed. But I think one of the big reasons of Echo / Google Home 's success is their openness to third party integrations - I don't have to buy everything(or anything) from Amazon in order to make my smart home setup work.

It will be interesting to see what Apple is going to offer in this space.

So it's an immobile smartphone. What a waste of good natural resources.

 

[Phil in ocala]

Looks like they found a home for all those unused Mac Pro Housings.

______________________________
Apple cannot overcome the laws of physics....sound...Music...pushes are...the smaller the speaker driver...the smaller the audio it provides...I suggest people go to a BestBuy Magnolia Room and listen to some real speakers....try the American Martin Logan Electro Static Speakers....then ask yourself...gee....maybe this apple speaker may not be so good.

 

[Modernboy]

I want to love Siri, but I don't understand why my perfectly fine Nest (which I bought at the Apple Store) and 1st gen Hue lights don't work with HomeKit/Siri. The Google Assistant app on the iPhone has absolutely no issues controlling these.

In order to be HomeKit compatible devices require a special chip from Apple that provides end-to-end encryption. Nest (owned by Google) and first gen Hue lights don't have this chip. This chip is there for your protection. The internet of things outside of HomeKit is pretty wide open and waiting to be hacked. In fact it happened at one point and brought down a bunch of sites. http://www.npr.org/sections/alltech...-quickly-the-internet-of-things-can-be-hacked

 

[kyleh22]

Id be a buyer if this incorporates some sort of multi room Sonos like functionality. The idea of easily streaming music from my phone to multiple rooms is very appealing to me. I don't like how the Sonos multi room streaming only works with certain sources.

I've always had high hopes for Airplay since it can manage multiple output from iTunes. I took this as an indication of what's to come.

 

[Scarpad]

I have both an echo Dot and a Google home so not sure there is room for siri, possibly. I use the dot to Control My Dish Network Hopper 3 works pretty well for that, the google home i use mainly to Direct Google play music to my various Chromecast Audio's thru out the house, ala a poor man's sonos system, siri could output to my Apple TV's but those are alot more expensive than a $35 chromecase

 

[pallymore]

So it's an immobile smartphone. What a waste of good natural resources.

Not really.
Certainly smartphones can do everything now - they have become part of our brains, but that doesn't mean they can (or should) replace everything.
You can watch TV on your smartphone - why do you still keep a TV in your house.
You can listen to music, throw your speakers away.
You can edit videos, use excel, and compose music - why people are still buying macs, they are obsolete!
There is nothing that an Apple Watch can do and your smartphone cannot, but for some reason AAPL is still wasting tons of resources making those watch bands.

Try ask Siri to play NPR News, BBC briefing, then weather forecast - without stopping whatever you are doing.

 

[photosbynick]

I've been an Apple user since 1986, when I was 5. I haven't strayed too far from Apple over the years and still use a MBP and iMac in my pro use as a designer/photographer. iPhone, iPads, Apple TV is now our home entertainment device instead of using Fios or Comcast. I will say, Apple is falling behind in a lot of areas, Pro users, fresh and innovative ideas, and now releasing products years after others have been around for a while.

I think a Siri speaker is a great idea, 2 years ago. Now that a lot of people out there that would use a device like this already have Google Home or Alexa devices. One reason I didn't use Apple Home to control my house is because the devices I already had were not compatible with Apple Home. It would have cost me $1500 to get all the stuff to switch over. I currently use Google Home and can control my TV, thermostat, lights, music, outdoor lights, security cams and more. If Apple would have brought the speculated speaker out a year or two ago, then it might have been an option for us. With so many people already owning a Google Home or Alexa device, I just can't see them spending money for a Siri speaker and switch over.

Nice try Apple, but you need to step you game up.

 

[nburwell]

Am I the only one who thinks these things are useless? I mean, why would you not want to just raise your wrist and ask Siri something there? You have to be in the specific room to use one of these...

You definitely are not alone. I don't mind picking up my iPad/iPhone, launching the Amazon app and ordering dog food or whatever else we need.

Maybe a couple years down the line, I might see a use for them, but I just think they're pointless now.

 

[macduke]

Here's hoping it doesn't JUST support WiFi. It needs to support multiple protocols, like z-wave, to be a viable alternative to other home automation products. It also needs a scripting/development model for creating complex automation tasks, not simply flipping a switch on/off.

That would be neat, and I considered that, but I don't think Apple will do it. Apple wants these things to operate on more standard protocols, such as WiFi and Bluetooth. Here's to hoping it at least supports Bluetooth 5 so that we can get some increased range and speed. I agree that z-wave is probably better than Bluetooth at this point, from a range perspective. But I think Apple's solution is more secure. They don't want to rely on the security of some third party proprietary wireless spec. They want to own the whole security stack. Not sure if that is possible if they integrate z-wave or not?

 

[Tech198]

I bet WWDC to show of this speaker..

Apple likes a big audience... They would have to do it because there would needing to be a SDK so developers can access it. Otherwise there would be a silent launch, and a mention of extending at WWDC.???? Seems with no extending outside Apple, a siri speaker would just be like dumb.... If Apple wants to make it any useful, they would extend it off the bat. Otherwise the move will push more people to the Echo.

The speaker announcement seems more better. Get more attention.

 

[macduke]

I think you're way off pricing this ... I think it should be $499 to $599 for the technology packed in. I will definitely buy them (yes, several) at this price because it will solve so many problems/constrains I have right now.

They have to compete with Amazon and Google right now. They sell the Apple TV at a reasonable price point that is still several times more expensive than competitors. That being said, I didn't realize the Amazon Echo was $179. I could have swore I saw it in the past more in the $69-89 range. Maybe it was on sale? Or maybe I'm just thinking of the Echo Dot? Knowing that, it might be in the $199-299 range. Or maybe the main unit is more expensive, but the satellite units are $99-149 each, and just send queries back to the main unit? Alternatively, maybe the thing acts like an Apple Watch and gets all of it's information from nearby iOS devices? It just acts as a relay hub and runs the queries through nearby devices? That could cut down some cost, but might remove some simplicity. You're probably right about it being more expensive, I just think it's probably half of what you're thinking, lol.

If all of that happened, then it'd be amazing. Otherwise, meh.

Yeah, the rule on MacRumors seems to be that Apple only gives us, at most, half of what we want feature-wise in any new product. During the product lifecycle we come up with new features we want, along with the old ones, and they give us less than half still. But we usually accept it because we don't want them putting out half-baked software.
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Amazons is $300 and Apples will have better sound and better mics and you think Apple will price it at 2/3 the Price?

Please see what I just wrote above. Didn't realize how much Amazon was charging for the original Echo. The new one with the screen is even more, which is what I assume you're referring to? That one is $229. I guess it depends on if Apple puts a screen in it or runs things through iOS devices.

 

[BigJohno]

Like the iPod? Or the iPhone? Or one of Apple’s other flops? Yeah.

I'm going to reserve judgement until we see the story that Apple wants to tell with this product. However, the iPhone and iPod were products that filled a void in the market place. Everything out at the time was crap! This space however seems crammed full of good competitors with superior products. Siri blows and has been blah for the last few years. It will be just another "cool" apple product and not a must have IMO.

 

[Mr Retina]

I have an echo dot in my bedroom and love it for my lights, news, weather, etc. I hope they do come out with something, especially If I can just tell siri to play apple music playlist, read my notifications If my phone is charging, tell me I have incoming calls, control my lights, etc.

 

[happydude]

I honestly don't see why people have a big issue with this. Some call it copying, but it is really a matter of perfecting or making something very good upon release. It doesn't always work out that way, but in the modern era where every manufacturer knows what the other is doing, being the first to market typically doesn't mean being the best. Every tech company is copying the other, this isn't the 80's or 90's when one or two companies were able to have huge technological advantages over all the others. It is a relatively even playing field and the one that does something the best is the one that will win. To me, it's time worth waiting.

hey, fully agree. iPhones blew away the smart phone market at the time and [most] everyone ended up copying them in return. same for the apple watch. go all the way back to their original GUI on through to laptops, tablets, etc. now i imagine they'll up the ante in the home hub speaker thingy whatever this new product category is called.
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I can't see the price being close to those. Expect the Cook tax of 1/3 or higher . I'd even say probably close to double that of the echo

yeah, likely the case. can wish right...still a few days to dream before finding out.

 

[McTool]

Why do we bother to buy eggs when there are hardly any chickens?

That doesn't make sense.

 

[ncaissie]

Can't you just use an old iPhone connected to a Bluetooth speaker?
I haven't used it in a while but doesn't siri have an always listening feature?