As well as announcing the impressive new iMac Pro, Apple used WWDC to introduce the Apple HomePod – a speaker and home assistant that will compete with the Google Home and Amazon Alexa.
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“We want to reinvent music in the home in the way we invented mobile music, ‘ said Mr Cook, “we really think its going to take your home music experience to the next level”.
A survey released last month by research firm eMarketer found Echo speakers held 70.6 percent of the USA market, compared with 23.8 percent for Google Home and 5.6 percent for others including Lenovo, LG, Harmon Kardon and Mattel.
On top of this, the speaker will play host to spatial awareness skills that allow its to sense its location within a room and attune its audio output accordingly. GOOGL, +0.78% GOOG, +0.83%, with its Google Home product, and Amazon Inc.’s AMZN, +0.46% Amazon Echo. It will ship in December in the US, UK, and Australia. Apple is promoting the HomePod as a cross between a dedicated home assistant and a high-end speaker, saying it can adjust its audio output depending on the size of the room it’s in. The difference between these “AI first, sound quality second” products and Apple’s HomePod should be night and day.
Siri will be integrated into the US$349 speaker, and will make music recommendations that pair with the company’s Apple Music service, send text messages, check news and sports scores, and control home gadgets like lightbulbs and thermostats.
Apple also said it was making its virtual assistant Siri more aware of context, enabling it to recommend and remind users more accurately based on how they use their device. It has an Apple A8 Chip inside that will intelligently sculpt sound to match the environment it’s in. When you say “Hey Siri”, it starts listening for your command or question.
The speaker will also work with your existing Apple Music subscription and have access to your music library and playlists. Shipments of intelligent home speakers surged almost 600 per cent year-over-year to 4.2 million units in the fourth quarter, with Amazon taking about 88 per cent share and Google 10 percent, according to consultant Strategy Analytics.
The two new iPads will feature a new screen with ProMotion technology, which the company says should offer a faster refresh rate of up to 120Hz to make tasks like scrolling and using the Apple Pencil feel smoother. And all communications will be encrypted, meaning authorities can’t try to tap home communications. From there, you can update your calendar, set reminders, or receive updates on the news, weather, and traffic. It will block videos that start playing automatically, for instance, and can also prevent ads from following and profiling users.
The free software, iOS 11, is expected in September, when Apple typically releases new iPhones. The company also released a new computer, the iMac Pro. The more powerful iMac is meant to address concerns of creative professionals who had been limited to much less powerful iMacs or the much-loved Mac Pro, which hasn’t been updated since 2013.
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Mac models were also boosted to work with virtual reality gear, a move by Apple into technology that Facebook has embraced with its Oculus unit.
