US tech giant Apple will soon launch a 15-inch iPad to compete with Amazon’s Echo Show 15. According to a latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman noted that Apple has just 5% of the smart speaker market, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. While Amazon and Google account for 69% and 25% of the sales.
“Apple knows that the success of its product ecosystem depends on being everywhere its customers are….But Apple has been a laggard in one key area: the home. It’s way behind rivals such as Amazon and Alphabet Inc.’s Google in smart speakers and related devices,” Gurman writes.
Apple can have an edge over Amazon by stretching out the iPad to 15 inches, something that Gurman has reported that Apple is exploring previously too. With a central home device, Apple, he says could eliminate some of the Echo’s flaws, such as its thicker-than-necessary design, sluggish and limited software, and a subpar camera. The Cupertino-based company will also have an edge on the software front because it has the App Store.
Gurman at this point makes some conjectures that Apple could incorporate with the device. He suggests that the iPhone maker could create a new software layer—which he calls Home mode—that optimizes the device for stationary usage. The product, he says, could double as a regular iPad and laptop replacement that you can take anywhere.
However, the iPhone maker may have to overcome two major caveats. First, if Apple decides to turn the iPad into a giant home device, it won’t want to compromise on quality and features. That means it’s going to be expensive. Second, Siri still needs work understanding users, tapping into third-party services and taking the desired action.
To recall, Apple launched HomeKit in 2014, letting customers control appliances from iPhones and iPads. The first HomePod smart speaker debuted in 2017. While the initial HomePod was a flop, its newer $99 version has sold better.
