- Apple’s Smart Home Hub is allegedly due to launch later in the year
- It’s not too late for Apple to set a new default for smart home devices
- There are three important things that Apple has to do to succeed
There has been a lot of speculation in the last few months about Apple’s plans to launch a home hub that combines a display with a speaker and allows you to control different smart home units nearby. According to a new report, launching this year is on the field, but there are still some important questions about the product.
The report comes from Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, who claims Apple’s device will have a seven-inch screen that looks like a “smaller and cheaper iPad.” It will be used to “control appliances, perform FaceTime chats and handle other tasks,” says Gurman.
It may not sound like a groundbreaking new product, and Gurman describes it himself as “essentially a HomePod with a about 7-inch screen.” Still, the reporter believes it will also be “Apple’s most significant release of the year” because it will be a step towards the company that establishes itself stronger on the smart home market.
In addition, Gurman says the device “provides another platform for AI features” and that Apple will follow it up with a more advanced product in a few years. This advanced version comes with a robotic arm that lets the screen follow a user around the room.
What to happen
It is encouraging to see Apple make movements in the smart home, but the company has a lot of work to do to make its device competitive against rivals like Google and Amazon. First, Apple has to set up its software, including HomeKit, Siri and Apple Intelligence, if it will give users the kind of experiences they can get from Apple’s competitors.
There is also a lot of talk that Apple will debut a tailor -made operating system called Homeos with Home Hub. If it is true, this new system must have an intuitive, user -friendly interface to help people hit the soil running with this unknown software environment. Fortunately, Apple is one of the best in the world by developing intuitive interfaces – now the company just has to make sure it doesn’t fall.
Thirdly, it is important that Home Hub is launched with a competitive price. Apple’s philosophy is to be the best, and it often leads to it adding premium features that command a high price – just look at how expensive Vision Pro and the original HomePod were.
But Apple is late for the Smart Home Party, so it is necessary to make sure it releases something that is really strong without exposing people with an eye -watering price tag. It’s a fine line to step, but the newly redesigned M4 MAC Mini evidence that it can be done. Based on rumors it seems that its price will sit somewhere between a HomePod Mini ($ 99 / £ 99 / AU $ 149, which it should get a HomePod Mini 2 -Seper this year) and a Basic iPad ($ 449 / £ 499 / AU $ 749), but it’s a pretty big gorge.
Will Apple be able to achieve all that with its Home Hub? It is a question that we do not have answers to until the dust settles. But if any business has the resources to meet this challenge, it’s probably Apple.
