Apple's Long View on 'HomeView'
🔗 Apple Is About to Close the Biggest Hole In Its Ecosystem With HomeView • Bloomberg
Well, ahead of tomorrow's unveil, we apparently have a name:
The centerpiece is a new smart home hub called the HomeView. Equipped with a display and an A18 chip, the product essentially serves as the Siri command center for an Apple-powered household. Complementing it are two other devices: an updated HomePod mini with an S10 chip that extends voice control, music playback and other functionality throughout the house (though the HomeView is said to offer better sound quality), and a new Apple TV set-top box with a standard A19 chip that brings the experience to the living room.
The HomeView comes in two versions: a countertop model with a metal speaker base and a wall-mounted version with a flat, square base that sits against the wall beneath the display. The countertop offering will come in four colors: space gray, silver, starlight and pink, while the wall-mounted version will be limited to space gray and silver.
This newsletter by Mark Gurman backs up a report late last week by Joe Rossignol for MacRumors, which found some regulatory filings around the same name. While my guess had been 'HomePod Hub', I think 'HomeView' is more elegant – certainly more so than 'HomePad' which always sounded a bit too much like a sanitary product. 'HomeView' indicates a view into your home while also emphasizing the screen element.
More interesting:
Unlike the iPhone, the HomeView isn’t designed for a wide variety of apps. The device will support a limited selection of Apple applications, with no App Store for downloading additional software, I’m told. Instead, the company is betting on an array of third-party accessories that connect to the HomeView and can be controlled through Siri, the Home app and other Apple devices.
I think I actually like this strategy more than trying to launch as a big, new product trying to woo third-party developers. Apple will have their first party apps ready to roll and presumably the new, second party partners as well (though those products from LG, and perhaps a few others, may be a bit behind the new Apple TV and HomePod mini, it sounds like). Presumably they let other developers target HomeView on a case-by-case basis? Or maybe it will be like Apple Watch apps where they're payloads alongside the regular apps?
Beyond those second party devices/services, I'm just trying to come up with what Apple is going to use as a selling point of the HomeView on day one (beyond the fun design). I doubt it will just be FaceTime, Photos, Apple TV and the like... Presumably they'll have some games – camera focused? – ready to roll? How great would it be to have something like your Muse agent running on this thing? Then again, Apple may want to restrict such things to Siri-only, at least for now...
I had also been guessing a $499 price point, but given that it will be running on the two-generations-old A18 chip – the new Apple TV will have a newer chip? – which may again suggest that this product has been ready to roll for a while now, just waiting on Siri to get smart – it would seem to indicate a lower-price point. $349? Could they get to $299?
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler