It’s expected that Apple will unveil another new achievement, and this time, it’s an Internet-connected voice-activated speaker. If all goes as expected, it should create another digital pipeline into their users’ homes.
Speaker will be connected to Siri, and it will serve as a music outlet, but also as a digital butler. This speaker is the first new product issued by Apple since the 2015’s smartwatch. This would be a perfect way for Apple to show that they’re still perfectly capable of catching up with both Google, and Amazon.
Apple has developed a tradition when it comes to the annual conferences that are being organized for their developers. The tradition mostly includes early glimpses at the newest Mac and iPhone updates, but from time to time, these events are also used for introduction of their newest devices, upgrades, and services.
As previously mentioned, in the field of the speakers, Amazon and Google are Apple’s main rivals. They both already introduced their newest additions, in the form of Echo speaker Alexa for Amazon, as well as Google’s Home Speaker named simply Assistant. Amazon was the first one to introduce the speaker in 2015, and Google followed in 2016. Now, in 2017, it’s Apple’s turn.
Over 35 million of the US citizens are expected to use these speakers at least once per month, according to the eMarketer’s research. This means that the interest for voice-activated speakers has doubled since the last year, and according to Patrick Moorhead, the industry analyst of Moor Insights & Strategy, it would be very difficult for Apple to miss such a momentum build-up.
Still, Apple’s competition definitely keeps the company on its toes, with the Amazon’s new version of Echo that now has a touch-screen display, a camera, and video-calling. It’s expected that this version of Echo, called Echo Show, will be on sale in less than a month. The sale will start on June 28, and the product will cost around $230.
On the other hand, there’s Google, that has announced that the new feature of their speaker includes hands-free phone calling. Even Microsoft is planning their own speaker, featuring Cortana as your digital assistant. Once again, Apple is the last to announce their product, and despite the fact that they were the first to come out with a digital assistant back in 2011, they didn’t feature a stand-alone assistant since.
That’s expected to change, and if it does, Apple will once again broaden its influence on the people’s lives. It would also be the first time for Apple to join the trend that its competitors have started. They were known for refusing to enlarge the size of the iPhone’s screen, despite the fact that Samsung’s enlargement resulted in a great boost in sales. Still, they did it eventually, and it was a huge success for them.
Despite the fact that Siri would be the star of the product, it’s believed that the design wouldn’t be bad either since Apple is known for the design elegance of their products.
Apple’s lack of breakthrough devices has raised some concerns that the company depends on their iPhone’s success. Some even said that Apple has lost its spark after the death of Steve Jobs in 2011. Still, they managed to get pretty good results when they released their smartwatch, but it wasn’t a hit like the iPhone and iPad were.
When it comes to software, it’s expected that new iOS 11 would be changed so that the system would be able to work without the home button that’ll be removed from the newest iPhone model. It may even have some features that are designed for supporting the AI.
The company also expected to give a glimpse into their next Mac, as well as the system that will be powering it. Smartwatch might also get a new software, as well as for TV box. And there are also speculations that we might see iPad Pro, that would feature a much faster processor so that the tablet sales would rise once again.
