Apple entering the Home Assistant Fray

[kennyc]

"Apple is reportedly building a Siri speaker to rival Amazon’s Echo"

...
Apple is working on its own competitor to the Amazon Echo to give consumers a Siri-powered speaker for the home, according to a report from The Information today. Not only that, but Apple is also reportedly opening Siri up to third-party apps so developers can finally tap into the voice assistant. The report states that an Echo rival is a more longterm project, while creating and releasing a Siri software development kit is more likely to happen first. In fact, the Siri SDK could arrive as early as June during Apple's annual WWDC conference. While some third-party companies have gained access to Siri, such as Yelp, they've only done so by way of specially crafted deals with Apple. A SDK would let any developer utilize Apple's voice assistant....


http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/24/11...google-home-ai

[fjtorres]

Pretty much unavoidable.
Homekit alone hasn't gotten much traction and Apple can't let Alexa run away with the market. Offering up Siri as bait to get develooers to support Homekit is the only option left.

Of course, since it's just a rumor it is doubtful they'll release any hardware this year but, yes,they'll probably announce the Siri move at their next developers conference. It takes time to code all the apps they'll need.

That leaves Microsoft to be heard from. Cortana is coming to XBOX this summer so they'll have a hardware platform to work with but their approach to the Internet of Things is different from Amazon's. Will be interesting to see if they switch.

That "overpriced bluetooth speaker" of Amazon's has certainly made a splash.

[tubemonkey]

* Amazon Echo -- $179

* Apple Siri -- $399

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

That "overpriced bluetooth speaker" of Amazon's has certainly made a splash.

It's well worth the $99 I paid for mine to get voice controlled music and books in a stand-alone device. It's now my entire stereo system.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

It's well worth the $99 I paid for mine to get voice controlled music and books in a stand-alone device. It's now my entire stereo system.

talked to my son last night and he went on and on for at least 1/2 hour about how he had picked it up at Best Buy and felt like he was living in the future. Said he spent 20 minutes just saying 'Alexia turn on the dining room light." "Alexia turn off the dining room light" ....

He's already got Nest and says he's now going to wifi enable the rest of his lights and appliances.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by kennyc

talked to my son last night and he went on and on for at least 1/2 hour about how he had picked it up at Best Buy and felt like he was living in the future. Said he spent 20 minutes just saying 'Alexia turn on the dining room light." "Alexia turn off the dining room light" ....

He's already got Nest and says he's now going to wifi enable the rest of his lights and appliances.

That's cool. For me, I have no intention of using it for home automation.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by kennyc

"Apple is reportedly building a Siri speaker to rival Amazon’s Echo"

...
Apple is working on its own competitor to the Amazon Echo to give consumers a Siri-powered speaker for the home, according to a report from The Information today. Not only that, but Apple is also reportedly opening Siri up to third-party apps so developers can finally tap into the voice assistant. The report states that an Echo rival is a more longterm project, while creating and releasing a Siri software development kit is more likely to happen first. In fact, the Siri SDK could arrive as early as June during Apple's annual WWDC conference. While some third-party companies have gained access to Siri, such as Yelp, they've only done so by way of specially crafted deals with Apple. A SDK would let any developer utilize Apple's voice assistant....


http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/24/11...google-home-ai

Apple actually had already opened up Siri to 3rd party developers.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

* Amazon Echo -- $179

* Apple Siri -- $399

Try $150, which is how much AppleTV cost.

Given that one can use Siri on the iPhone, iPad and AppleTV already, I'm really not terrible sure what problem this rumored device is suppose to solve. The rumor makes very little sense.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Try $150, which is how much AppleTV cost.

Given that one can use Siri on the iPhone, iPad and AppleTV already, I'm really not terrible sure what problem this rumored device is suppose to solve. The rumor makes very little sense.

The problem is two devices; the solution is one device.

The above options require two devices to play content -- bluetooth speaker + iDevice. The Echo can accomplish the same thing with one device. A Siri speaker would also be one device.

[fjtorres]

Here is ZDNet's take:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/apples-...tag=TRE17cfd61

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The problem is two devices; the solution is one device.

The above options require two devices to play content -- bluetooth speaker + iDevice. The Echo can accomplish the same thing with one device. A Siri speaker would also be one device.

Don't really see the point to it. What you are describing is adding Siri to an AirPlay speaker (currently priced at $50). However, AirPlay speakers never really took off. They were a solution in search of a problem.

Looking out there, I see that Amazon has now sold some 3 million units of echo in the space of a year, mostly as wireless speakers. Apple TV has sold 37 million units. Unless for some reason, Apple sees it as low hanging fruit, I really don't see the point.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Don't really see the point to it. What you are describing is adding Siri to an AirPlay speaker (currently priced at $50). However, AirPlay speakers never really took off. They were a solution in search of a problem.

Looking out there, I see that Amazon has now sold some 3 million units of echo in the space of a year, mostly as wireless speakers. Apple TV has sold 37 million units. Unless for some reason, Apple sees it as low hanging fruit, I really don't see the point.

You do realize that Apple TV is not the same type of device as the Echo, right?

Edit to add that the 37 million figure for the Apple TV is the number sold since the device was introduced 10 years ago. The Echo was introduced to a very limited, invitation only audience in December 2014. It's only been available for sale to the general public for about a year.

Shari

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Don't really see the point to it. What you are describing is adding Siri to an AirPlay speaker (currently priced at $50). However, AirPlay speakers never really took off. They were a solution in search of a problem.

Looking out there, I see that Amazon has now sold some 3 million units of echo in the space of a year, mostly as wireless speakers. Apple TV has sold 37 million units. Unless for some reason, Apple sees it as low hanging fruit, I really don't see the point.

The Echo isn't just a wireless speaker, it's also a voice-activated:

• music & podcast player
• audiobook & ebook player
• AM/FM/internet radio player
• home automation controller
• info center: news, weather, traffic
• etc, etc, etc

None of these functions require a computer, phone, or tablet in order to work. Issue a hands-free voice command and the Echo will do it. That's the beauty of the Echo - "look ma, no hands".

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by shalym

You do realize that Apple TV is not the same type of device as the Echo, right?

Edit to add that the 37 million figure for the Apple TV is the number sold since the device was introduced 10 years ago. The Echo was introduced to a very limited, invitation only audience in December 2014. It's only been available for sale to the general public for about a year.

Shari

And they had sold 25 million as of last November, so basically in the neighborhood of 12 million since the updated model came out last fall.

I threw the Apple TV out there to give an idea of scope of sales. Apple TV was considered a hobby for Apple until fairly recently. 3 million units sold in the space of a year isn't really the sort of sales that Apple tends to look for in such an inexpensive device. That's why it really doesn't make much sense to me. We just aren't talking a huge market. For the most part, I've been able to do all that sort of stuff for a couple of years with my iPhone/iPad and my stereo system.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The Echo isn't just a wireless speaker, it's also a voice-activated:

• music & podcast player
• audiobook & ebook player
• AM/FM/internet radio player
• home automation controller
• info center: news, weather, traffic
• etc, etc, etc

None of these functions require a computer, phone, or tablet in order to work. Issue a hands-free voice command and the Echo will do it. That's the beauty of the Echo - "look ma, no hands".

For the most part, Apple doesn't go after that particular market segment. As far as look ma, no hands, well I can do that with my Apple watch. Works pretty well too. Once again, I'm not saying anything about the device in question other than that it fills a market segment that Apple normally doesn't go after, thus Apple coming out with a similar device doesn't make much sense to me.