Apple's Phil Schiller talks about the new HomePod speaker at WWDC.
One interpretation is that Apple isn't going after competing voice assistants but the midrange, wireless multi-room speaker market; the domain of companies like Sonos, Bose, and Logitech.
"Apple re-invented portable music with iPod and now HomePod will reinvent how we enjoy music wirelessly throughout our homes". Those two companies aren't trying to make money directly from selling phones, tablets, e-readers, US$40 Web video streaming devices and more.
The company said in a statement that HomePod packs powerful speaker technology, Siri intelligence and wireless access to the entire Apple Music library into a attractive speaker that is less than 7 inches tall, can rock most any room with distortion free music and be a helpful assistant around your home.
Amazon's smart speakers-which are equipped with the virtual assistant Alexa and can play music, deliver the news, and even order an Uber with voice commands-were huge hits with shoppers during the winter holidays of 2016.
The Echo, released in 2015, and Google Home, released a year ago, were the first entrants in a promising market.
Amazon Prime's original content will be made available on Apple TV later this year.
Like those other products it is created to be a digital home assistant, capable of answering questions about maths as well as music-related enquiries - but it comes with some Apple quirks. The midrange speaker market is in fact ripe for disruption, and I think Apple's correct to assume that people who have expensive speakers probably have an iPhone.
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Apple Watch isn't getting left out when it comes to operating system improvements.
For those who need the very top of the line, Apple also unveiled some details of the Space Gray iMac Pro, with the base version coming at $4,999 that will ship in December with four Thunderbolt 3 ports, support for two 5K displays, and more. The company "can't afford to yield valuable real-estate in the heart of people's homes to Amazon, Google and others", said Geoff Blaber, research analyst at CCS Insight. Apple also claims moving images and text will become more streamlined with drag and drop.Meanwhile, Apple is making an augmented reality push with iOS 11 across iPads and iPhones.
Apple hasn't announced an exact date for the release of the HomePod. It also enables the speaker to produces the deepest, most cleanest bass possible, and virtually no distortion.
It wouldn't be the first time that Apple hopped on the bandwagon of a technology product popularized by a competitor. It starts shipping in the USA, the United Kingdom, and Australia. It will not actually block ads, though.
Siri now has better translation features, improved speech, as well as the ability to learn from user behaviour.
Right now there are three players in voice assistants: Apple, Google, and Amazon. So far, the service has limited payments to purchases of products and services from companies and other organizations.
A set of iOS 11 features including enabling smartphone cameras to read QR codes are aimed at the China market, where Apple would like to bolster iPhone sales.
Ortutay reported from NY.
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