According to rumors, Apple is working on the creation of assistant for smart homes. It is assumed that the smart column with support for voice assistant Siri will compete with Amazon Echo and Google Home. The debut of the home helper is expected at the Apple developers conference WWDC 2017, which will be held in June in San Jose. Ahead of the anticipated announcement, senior Vice President of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller talked about how in his opinion there should be a device with built-in voice assistants.
Top Manager noted that “smart” assistant without screen can offer only a limited usage scenario, since the person often is not enough words, and requires visualization of the obtained response.
“There are many times when a personal assistant is useful, but this does not mean that in all cases you can do without the screen. I believe that the lack of display is not suitable to many situations,” — said the representative of Apple.
Schiller cited the example queries associated with the search of images. To view the photos, including those published on social networks, it is necessary to display. Even with the further development of “smart” speakers need to visualize some queries, in his opinion, will not disappear.
To the question about what he thinks about Amazon Echo and Google Home Schiller said, “I don’t want to talk specifically about any one of the devices. As my mother used to say, if you have nothing nice to say about something, better not to say anything”.
According to rumors, Apple is working on its own “smart” column in mid-2015, about six months after it was released the first version of the Amazon Echo dynamics. According to MacRumors, the device has a design in the style of a Mac Pro with a concave top, with built-in controls. As an up and coming competitors the device will be a wireless speaker with voice control. Users will be able to listen to music via AirPlay, to control appliances through deep integration with HomeKit, and also at any time apply to assistant with various assignments.
Thus, according to observers, Apple has all the pieces of the puzzle: the huge database of more than one billion devices, the voice assistant already associated with services such as Apple Music, speaker system Beats, and of course, HomeKit — that is, you can combine all of this and to provide an intuitive user interface. But the time for successful entry into this market is getting smaller. However, Apple is rarely the pioneer, but is able to create a successful and competitive product — at least remember the experience with the iPod and iPhone.
