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Apple Pulls Some Features From Rumored Smart Home Robot [Updated]
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The iPad used to be a Photo Frame. Until they decided to remove it.
I've been a software developer at half a dozen tech companies during the last 30 years. You know what? This sort of thing happens all the time in every tech company.
Are you saying that Apple should stop exploring new product ideas, and just iterate on existing product lines? That doesn't sound like a good long-term plan.
They haven't promised anything. The "product" is just a rumor.
Unless they can sort Siri out, this product is more or less pointless.
Is this really a new product idea?
(new to them, I guess)
I mean, this whole concept has sort of come and gone already and shown to be of fairly limited appeal.
My biggest issue with this is primarily the price. Siri isn't as responsive as the other assistant devices. I would hate to basically buy something that ends up becoming a visual push button device. That's why most people are using a cheap iPad as a home hub controller only.
yup. That's one of the major issues like why is someone going to spend, Let's say hypothetically 8- $1000 on a device like this I don't know the price wild guess. It's basically just a fancy place to press buttons. You could repurpose an iPad for just home control.
‘Bolder Features’ = things would actually like or use. ‘Ready sooner’ = slap iPad on base and we’ll kick the can down the road.
We have Amazon Echos dotted about the house. There are a few tasks we use them for - music playback, radio playback (for the dog when we go out without her), checking the weather, setting cooking timers, asking a quick question that it will likely google the answer for, turning the lights on or off/changing their colour, and finally dropping in on/calling one of the other Echos to speak to someone in a different room rather than the old school method of shouting upstairs. I can think of very few other tasks that I would use a smart speaker for, perhaps changing the thermostat if we ever upgrade that to a smart one.
Anyway, I can split all those use cases into two categories, the first is because it’s quicker to do one of those things with a voice command than any other route, e.g. “Alexa, turn on bedroom lights”. The second category is because my hands are otherwise occupied, be that cooking, or perhaps dirty/wet so I don’t want to be controlling a device with them.
Looking at those two categories, if the task is quicker on my phone, I’d use my phone, and if my hands weren’t busy, I’d use my phone. So when am I ever going to need a touchscreen on my smart speaker?
Besides, they’re a bit late to the party, all their competitors have sold these for years, and I doubt they sell that well compared to the standard speaker versions.
Anyway, I can split all those use cases into two categories, the first is because it’s quicker to do one of those things with a voice command than any other route, e.g. “Alexa, turn on bedroom lights”. The second category is because my hands are otherwise occupied, be that cooking, or perhaps dirty/wet so I don’t want to be controlling a device with them.
Looking at those two categories, if the task is quicker on my phone, I’d use my phone, and if my hands weren’t busy, I’d use my phone. So when am I ever going to need a touchscreen on my smart speaker?
Besides, they’re a bit late to the party, all their competitors have sold these for years, and I doubt they sell that well compared to the standard speaker versions.
Bad example. People bought it so people wanted it. The fact Apple is coming out with a successor shows there is a market.
Yeah, but iOS 19 is gonna like Apple Vision! It's a device we all love and can't get enough of so, so that's something, right?
Why would put an A18 chip when you have M1, M2, or M3 or 4 so it be an irreplaceable piece with the main chip in it. IMO
Apple has scrapped some of the features that it had planned for its long-rumored smart home hub device, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
"I'm told that Apple has pulled some bolder features from the device that could reappear in subsequent models," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter this week. However, he did not reveal any of the specific features that were pulled.
Apple made this decision in order to get the smart home hub "ready faster," according to Gurman. The device's launch was already postponed after Apple delayed its personalized Siri features, which are expected to be a core aspect of the hub, per his previous reporting. In his newsletter this week, he said that he expects the device to be released "by the end of this year at the earliest," but the exact timeframe "remains up in the air."
Apple has yet to confirm that such a device exists, of course, so this is not an official delay.
Gurman had previously said that the home hub would be "Apple's most significant release" of 2025, as it represents the company's "first step toward a bigger role in the smart home." He said the device will be like a "smaller and cheaper iPad" that lets users "control appliances, conduct FaceTime chats, and handle other tasks."
The device is expected to be similar to a HomePod with a screen, with rumored features including a 6-inch or 7-inch display, an A18 chip, and Apple Intelligence support. Gurman said it can be attached to a tabletop base with a speaker, or mounted on a wall.
In March, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the device would enter mass production at some point after WWDC 2025, which begins June 9.
Article Link: Apple's Rumored Smart Home Hub Has Faced a Disappointing Setback
And there are lots of people who won't have any Google or Amazon devices in their homes especially ones that are always listening to you and your conversations and what you are watching/playing. Those spies are dangerous. How long before some government somewhere collects all that data and uses it to weed out the opposition?
Loose talk costs you in ways that you don't realise.
A device that can just sit there and control the smart things using all the standards (matter, homekit, Alexa, that one the smart wing shades use, trane thermostats, etc).
If I could just have all that stuff in a very organized device I'd be happy. It should stay on so anyone can use the shortcuts on a main screen.
Right now it's a madhouse of apps that all take ages to set up when getting new things in your system.
If I could just have all that stuff in a very organized device I'd be happy. It should stay on so anyone can use the shortcuts on a main screen.
Right now it's a madhouse of apps that all take ages to set up when getting new things in your system.
This is a meta rumor - a rumor about a rumor. I can’t imagine using this article as a basis for such strong opinions.
Just relax and see what they actually do or do not release.
Just relax and see what they actually do or do not release.
Other manufacturers are actually doing a lot better than Apple and delivering completed products.
In other words, Gurman is saying he doesn't know. Just say you don't know man.