The iPhone maker is enlisting Afrooz Family to lead the work, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The family worked at Apple from 2012 to 2016 before leaving to co-found audio startup Syng with former Apple industrial designer Christopher Stringer. The family left the startup earlier this year after helping develop the company’s product, the Cell Alpha. Apple is looking to better challenge smart speakers from Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google Amazon’s Echo device, equipped with the Alexa voice assistant, currently dominates the industry. Users rely on the product to do things like play music, answer questions and set alarms.
A representative of Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment. Jason Harrison, who had overseen HomePod software, left Apple last year for Airbnb Inc. The original HomePod, which debuted at $349 in 2018, sold poorly and was discontinued earlier this year. Last fall, Apple revisited the concept with the $99 HomePod mini.
That device hasn’t become a blockbuster for Apple, but it has helped improve the company’s overall speaker sales. Still, it hasn’t made major inroads against the Amazon and Google devices, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.
Syng has had its own struggles. The startup developed its speaker as a high-end alternative to the HomePod, coming in at $1,800. It provides what the startup calls “triphonic sound” — audio that comes from three different directions. But the device was a challenge to develop and manufacture, and its price makes it more of a niche product.
The family has plenty of experience with smart speakers. Prior to Syng, he was an audio engineer at Apple and worked on the original HomePod.
Apple typically updates the HomePod’s software on an annual basis, alongside its major iPhone and iPad software updates. Last month, the tech giant updated the HomePod software with improved Apple TV integration. The company also shook up the product’s management several months ago, when it combined the HomePod and Apple TV software teams into a single group reporting to iTunes creator Jeff Robbin.
Eventually, Apple plans to merge its HomePod and Apple TV hardware. The company is working on a combined Apple TV, HomePod and FaceTime camera device for debut as early as 2023, Bloomberg News has reported.
]]>Apple’s expanding product range
Apple often likes to position itself as a big company with an internal culture similar to a startup, but I do not know of any early-stage firms where the product matrix has grown so vast that they must actively consider multiple launch events.
It’s a very long way from Apple circa 1999, when Steve Jobs was able to describe Apple in a quadrant based on notebook and desktop, consumer, and pro product segments. While all of Apple’s products still just about fit in one table, the table is larger, and the company needs to schedule more time to discuss them all.
At today’s Apple, not only have the divisions between different quadrants become much more elastic, but the product range has expanded with wearables, services, a streaming TV offer, pro and consumer software, mobile devices and smartphones, with further product category expansion expected, particularly around health, AR, and transportation.
Apple also hosted multiple events last year, introducing the Apple Watch and new iPads in September, following up with the iPhone 12 and HomePod mini in October, and then blowing our minds with the first Apple Silicon Macs in November. That Apple now plans multiple launch events again makes sense, given how much it has to talk about. What do we expect the company to introduce?
Apple’s products this fall may include…
The likely sequence might be:
September: iPhone event with AirPods and a push toward Apple TV.
October: An iPad event with Apple Watch and a push toward services, focused around health and fitness.
November: A Mac event, with a focus on pro apps and more insight into the company’s work around Apple Silicon.
Alternatively, Apple Insider speculates two events may take place in September, one featuring the new iPhone, another starring Apple’s other incoming products.
What’s coming for the enterprise?
While interest in the all-new iPhone is guaranteed, business purchasers will certainly want to look at the refreshed entry-level iPad and MacBook Pro.
For many, the new iPad with its faster processor and promised tight integration with Macs (Universal Control) will become a viable choice for deployment among mobile workers. We are already seeing mass deployment of M1-powered iPad Pro models, such as a recently announced move to equip all Delta Airlines pilots with these. For tasks where that level of performance is less critical, education and some enterprise markets may see the improved entry-level iPad as a viable choice. That iPad is meant to offer a similar look to that of Apple’s impressive iPad Air. Will it match its performance, too?
The M1X-powered MacBook Pros will enter an enterprise market in which Mac adoption is accelerating pace. Mass Mutual, ItalGas and Grab all recently confirmed major deployments, and they aren’t alone. Faster performance and industry-leading battery life will only reinforce that trend, and many executives will want to see what difference these machines might make to them.
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