Apple may be focusing a bit more on the smart home segment, including mulling the release of Apple TV hardware with a built-in FaceTime camera and gesture-based controls.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The Vision Pro headset ushered Apple into the mixed-reality category, which the company refers to as spatial computing. But its greatest potential may be replacing the Mac and iPad, rather than becoming an entirely new revenue source. And for the device to make any meaningful headway, the company will have to develop a cheaper model and ideally bring it to market within the next two years.
Then there’s the smart home segment, where Apple still has grand ambitions. It has discussed automating household functions and offering a revamped Apple TV set-top box with a built-in camera for FaceTime videoconferencing and gesture-based controls. And the technology will all work seamlessly with both the iPhone and Vision Pro.
One piece of the strategy is a lightweight smart display — something akin to a low-end iPad. Such a device could be shuttled from room to room as needed and hooked into charging hubs stationed around the house. Apple has started small-scale test production of the screens for this product, but hasn’t made a decision on whether to move forward.
Creating a unified smart home strategy remains an Apple goal, but the vision has been hard to fulfill. The need to finish up the Vision Pro got in the way, I’m told, diverting resources away from the smart home efforts.
But now that the Vision Pro has shipped and the electric car has been canceled, Apple has more bandwidth to refocus on the home.
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MacDailyNews Take: A company the size of Apple has some severe structural bottlenecks if some projects take away from others. A properly managed company the size of Apple should be able to work on Vision Pro and smart home products alongside an untold number of other major initiatives concurrently without causing delays.
Regardless, an Apple TV with a built-in FaceTime camera would sell.
A camera for FaceTime (and Zoom, etc.) should have been built into Apple TV units years ago. Hopefully, HomePod TV will sometime see the light of day! _ MacDailyNews, April 13, 2021
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No thanks to a camera in the living room
Given Apple’s questionable decision track record lately I believe that title.
What a dumb idea. HomePod Siri still randomly speaks when no one is talking too it so what are the odds that an AppleTV camera would just randomly turn itself on.
Culture needs less technology. Since ’08, kids have gone crazy and adults are close behind. We’d be better offer putting “the assistants” in the back yard (where Siri belongs anyways).
It’s pitiful and sad at the same time the once almighty, innovating, creativity flowing Apple is now reduced to iterative product changes that should have been done years ago. God forbid ahead of anyone else.
2024 WE finally learned the pipeline was dry all along, Cook out of gas or electricity in his case — grasping ANYTHING to point to success, besides signing overpaid Hollywood stars and directors to spotty success.
Tim is COOKED, OVER, DONE! Time to pack up the pride flag and move on!…
How many years have they been “mulling” this Apple TV/iPad thing? More and more we can see that these leaks are desperate attempts to show that Apple is doing something, ANYTHING behind the scenes. There is no pipeline anymore, it’s fantasy thinking. We’ve reached a point when AI can offer better ideas than Cook and Co.
Would it be true to say that Jobs’ Apple was VERY concerned with creating content (active human) and Cook’s Apple is almost all about consuming (passive human)? Creating docs/spreadsheets, web pages, movies/music/photos, was huge during Steve’s reign and there was a fine balance with consuming (mainly music with devices and iTunes). Besides reveling in the creative push, I also bought boatloads of music during the period when iTunes was a place to investigate. Now, I go to iTunes, while trying to hide from the octopus arms of Music. Generally, I avoid.
Apple Stores also seemed to be more of a place of discovery (beyond products), though I know it’s still pitched to some degree.
The dollar supersedes all in this admin…except Tim’s pet projects.