Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is no stranger to voice-command driven applications with its Siri becoming a household name long before more mainstream solutions, including those championed by Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) came into existence, due to it being attached to the Cupertino-based tech company’s flagship smartphone lineup, the iPhone. Considering that, just about every mobile OS comes with its own variant of voice command driven solutions such as Google Now, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Cortana and Amazon’s Alexa.
However, what has been a surprise hit is actually a connected home hub such as Amazon’s Echo speaker, which has seen it being diversified into a larger product line as the Echo Dot and the Amazon Tap, all powered by its Alexa AI. This has seen various market giants and large cap tech stocks harbour plans to directly compete in the same spectrum as the Echo.
Google’s Google Home project is not an outlier in this regard; it represents what the rest of the market will be aiming to move towards eventually. An ‘always on’ device at the center of one’s living room, while it did not initially have any wow factors, it is nevertheless a strategic win for Amazon, which has penetrated well beyond the actual device, making Alexa a platform to contend with.
Given Google’s recent interest in the market coupled with its own release, the Google Home powered by its Google Assistant AI, is something that is expected to help the search engine giant move the market by looking past smartphones according to its CEO, Sunder Pichai.
Apple already has the necessary hardware; all it needs to do is piece it together into a smart hub for its users. The M9 motion co-processor is incredibly powerful considering its power draw. Given the fact that Apple’s recent bout with the iPhone SE proves that it is actively searching for growth in various segments, a A9-based smart home hub with the coprocessor to boot is not something that is a reach; it is an eventuality when one considers the long term prospects of such hardware as well as Apple’s long term goals in the market.
With rumors rife surrounding such a reveal for Apple during WWDC, an event that has seen the Cupertino-based tech giant push tech like increments to the Apple TV, it must be noted that the bulk of these are coming up in the aftermath of the Google I/O conference. This is not to say that Apple has not already gotten the tech in development; it might simply be premature to release by the WWDC conference that happens between June 13-17.
It is, however, clear that the product itself is not something one can ignore or deny. It will appear in one shape or size as an eventually; as a standalone device, as an upgrade apple TV, or simply an ecosystem. In our opinion, WWDC cuts it ridiculously close for Apple to be able to offer something of substance in response to Google’ Google Home.
