Apple Pulls Some Features From Rumored Smart Home Robot [Updated]

[MacBH928]

Tim Cook has been milking the Steve Jobs road map but after that he has no idea where to go.

iPad, iphone, macos, ios, itunes, AppleTV, Macs, even ARM chips when they bought PA Semi in 2008.

After that maybe I can give Cook the Apple Watch and maybe Airpods but other things were failures: AppleTV+ , Apple Arcade, Apple Car, AI, Vision, and of course, buggy and un-intuitive software.

 

[whelmedjedi]

Another day, another gurman fake news. Im telling you, dont even bother to read the news if it includes the words “gurman, kuo”.

I dont bother.

 

[TwoBytes]

Nobody with an iPhone (the entire audience) will buy this as they can use Siri/Home app to control their house or FaceTime. I'd like to see what this will offer more than a Phone or an iPad does?

 

[TroyBoy30]

dern, a product no one asked for is delayed!

 

[wbeasley]

Google sell enough of these smart devices with screens... hopefully this is just a more powerful version.

I dont see why people get so uptight and negative if a product doesnt suit their needs.

Perhaps it will suit someone else... a bigger screen with a camera that you can do Facetime on might be easier for older folk to use. Add in reminders to take meds, monitoring they've checked in regularly, a virtual chat friend, some background music with photo memories.

Suddenly someone isnt so isolated anymore.

 

[Donkey Man]

Tim Cook has been milking the Steve Jobs road map but after that he has no idea where to go.

iPad, iphone, macos, ios, itunes, AppleTV, Macs, even ARM chips when they bought PA Semi in 2008.

After that maybe I can give Cook the Apple Watch and maybe Airpods but other things were failures: AppleTV+ , Apple Arcade, Apple Car, AI, Vision, and of course, buggy and un-intuitive software.

Even the Watch was still part of SJ’s roadmap. Cook knows nothing as CEO; his promotion from COO (a back office role he was actually good at) is a textbook example of the Peter Principle.

 

[mrmod]

Apple needs new management. They dropped the ball with the vision pro and have delay after delay on products.

 

[Dr McKay]

Wouldn’t it be better a base where you can magnetically attach an iPad when you need a screen and a camera? And when you de-attach it it looks discrete and decorative like a HomePod.
They even have the new API so iPhones can control stabilizers to keep following a person and the Stage Center feature, so why not the same here for the FaceTime feature?

This way people could use it as an iPad charger/stand and choose the screen size depending on their needs (like a big one for the kitchen or a small one for the entrance)

Also you could be watching a video or a recipe while you cook and if the recipe needs like a 30min timer, you set it on the base and then take the iPad with you to the sofa to keep watching the video or the next steps in the recipe.

Honestly I expect this new device to be this modular, maybe not being an iPad but a touchscreen that receives signal from the base so it can stay slim and portable (like the Wii U Gamepad), because otherwise I don’t see its functionality

I think I'm aligned with you here. I presume Apple has data showing there is demand for this type of product and market to capture (I would hope...), but I don't understand the value of what I'd be getting here outside of a...speaker? I just rather use my iPad/iPhone/Watch/MacBook Pro/Vision Pro - one of which is likely going to be on my person at any given time - and use the screens I already have to control my home or FaceTime with others.

My mom has the Google/Nest hub thing, and I have told her several times that has to be the most useless product I have seen because she controls everything from her phone.

I say just improve your AI and lean on Siri to control to your home and have a place to attach an iPhone or iPad magnetically (let it charge at the same time) to serve whatever use case requires a screen.

I guess I'm just not the target audience for this or am failing to understand the value prop. But I will say - for a company that likes to talk about "screen time", they sure are determined to add more and more to our homes. (That's not a complaint on my end - I want anything and everything in my life integrated, for the most part. I'd happily take an Apple Dishwasher if they can make one better than the ones I've used in my life.)

This is a great idea! Apple really need to look into making things more modular,?where an existing product can be used in a different way with a new product. That way, people buy more or buy newer models for their ecosystem. The idea of HomePod minis as surround speakers still baffles me how Apple hasn’t pursued this.

However, buying another device that looks like it could work the same as an existing device but with an add-on, won’t get many people excited

The Pixel tablet has a speaker dock which the tablet magnetically snaps onto, and can turn into one of those google smart hubs when docked which is a neat idea.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Well, just the other day Apple Home, went berserk and stopped controlling my Hue light. Everything was fine for a year ao so. Now I need to get the courage to configure once agains the 60 lights I have in HomeKit ... Hue App works fine.

My Apple TV is my "hub"..

Since a recent tvOS update, I'm consistently getting "Home Hub Has Stopped Responding" after a few days when I'm out of town. The only fix is rebooting the Apple TV when I get back and then it works fine all the time I'm at home.

When I leave again, it stops responding again after a few days.

Absolutely infuriating.
It makes it so I can't control my thermostat after a few days of being gone.

This HomeKit thermostat was an upgrade from my old Honeywell WiFi thermostat that flat out just "worked" .. always .. for nearly a decade.

 

[randomthoughts]

They need to look at the Echo Show 15 and build upon their own strengths to beat it out.

15 inch device, integrate Apple TV functionality, FaceTime, and use the widgets from all the 3rd party and Apple apps that already work with iOS, iPadOS, macOS to display things like reminders and calendar, or an Outlook widget for work updates, etc.

 

[I7guy]

We don’t need another screen cluttering our lives! This product is absolutely ridiculous. We’re already drowning in iPhones, iPads, and iMacs. This thing is destined to crash and burn.

Apple is clearly dying… OpenAI is the company that’s going to dominate the future.

Ai is going to be a commodity just like machine learning.

 

[Jdhommert]

Such a weird fail.

Nobody is really asking for this, but hopefully it would have some really cool features we aren’t expecting. Maybe really kicks off a big push into HomeKit stuff

But given Apples insanely awful history with Siri, and their 99% lack or anything actual AI nobody had any expectations of this thing being much past an iPad on a HomePod

But now whatever “big features” it was going to have aren’t even going to be included? Man. Things are not going well for Apple. They need to take the cash they have and spend it on every single amazing developer they can. Find the best of the best and double their salary. Wouldn’t even be a rounding error in their massive cash pile and would lead to their products actually being good. Which is idk… pretty important.

 

[MacBH928]

Even the Watch was still part of SJ’s roadmap. Cook knows nothing as CEO; his promotion from COO (a back office role he was actually good at) is a textbook example of the Peter Principle.

I wouldn't say knows nothing as CEO as Apple value grew from $332B to $3 Trillion (9x), but he is not a too much of tech visionary. From business side he is amazing ceo, from tech enthusiasm side not so much.

 

[AlanBeyond]

Its just what apple do recently, keep cancelling stuff. First AirPower, then Apple Car project. And the apple intelligence is such a mess

 

[milkrocket]

This device seems so pointless, that I wonder if any of the executives incharge actually have a smart home. Like if I have to get out of bed to control the lighting, then what is even the point? A phone is just so much easier.

The one place that I can imagine where such a device would make sense, is where your hands are tied up, like in the kitchen

 

[GioGiusi]

All based on speculative rumors. Too funny latching on to that.

There are too many past examples already. Rumors simply align with the trend.

 

[GoJu]

Wouldn’t it be better a base where you can magnetically attach an iPad when you need a screen and a camera? And when you de-attach it it looks discrete and decorative like a HomePod.
They even have the new API so iPhones can control stabilizers to keep following a person and the Stage Center feature, so why not the same here for the FaceTime feature?

This way people could use it as an iPad charger/stand and choose the screen size depending on their needs (like a big one for the kitchen or a small one for the entrance)

Also you could be watching a video or a recipe while you cook and if the recipe needs like a 30min timer, you set it on the base and then take the iPad with you to the sofa to keep watching the video or the next steps in the recipe.

Honestly I expect this new device to be this modular, maybe not being an iPad but a touchscreen that receives signal from the base so it can stay slim and portable (like the Wii U Gamepad), because otherwise I don’t see its functionality

There are many iPad models to accommodate. The device is currently ‚stand-alone‘, which means you don‘t need an iPad (or even an iPhone). Looks like it has speakers (of course). For a person with limited space - e.g. Studio Apartment - this can be a useful product.

Until we understand all the Features of the Home Robot, we don‘t really understand the value-add. It seems to be a HomePod variant with a screen attached, which allows the user to watch stuff and (presumably) surf the web. I guess it would have the Home App too.

 

[GoJu]

Everything seems rushed these days. Everything.

Apple used to only release devices when things were ready. It set them apart. Now they appear to rush things out as much as anyone.

Hasn‘t this thing been rumoured for a while? Is there a release date?
What I have seen, since mid 1970‘s is that every company delivering computers and software is in a race to get to market first. So Apple is not operating any differently to any “ICT“ company.

 

[GoJu]

And it's why Tim Cook needs to go. He is half-assing everything in order to ship sooner.

Are you sure about that? Apple has been very profitable with Tim at the helm. Lot‘s of innovation and „Looking before he leaps“.

 

[GioGiusi]

Are you sure about that? Apple has been very profitable with Tim at the helm. Lot‘s of innovation and „Looking before he leaps“.

Tim inherited a growth machine that was created by Job's approach. He was a caretaker of that for a few years and didn't rock the boat. Then he started meddling, and after years of milking blood from stone, customers are growing exhausted with his compromises. Tim Cook's idea of innovation is "let's add the only new things we have this year to the Pro model in order to maximize profit".

Under Tim Cook iPhone Average Selling Price increased from $500 to $950+. Shareholders love it, and they are the only people who love it. The billions of people that Apple serves are growing increasingly unhappy with it.