I ’ve had an Amazon Echo in my house for a few weeks now , and it ’s win over me that the good voice - controlled assistant does n’t exist in your earphone or on your remote command , but in the air all around you . And that this is a place Apple — and Siri — need to be .
Even before Thursday’sreport that Google may be working on an Echo contender , I ’ve been thinking that Apple should make a twist like Amazon ’s $ 180 Echo , a modest speaker with integrated mike that ’s wired to a Siri - comparable voice agent named Alexa .
In the preceding few weeks , with the Echo in the home , I have conversed more with Alexa than I have with Siri in the retiring twelvemonth . That ’s in part because Siri is too often stuck in my pocket or out on a countertop , while Alexa can hear me all over my home and then speak back to me in a tacky voice that my iPhone ca n’t muster . Unlike Siri , I do n’t need to pick up my earphone or walk over to where it ’s dock to babble out to Alexa .
It ’s also because , unlike Siri , Alexa ca n’t cheat by display results on a screen door . Alexa is a voice interface completely divorced from visual fallbacks ; Siri all too often refers me to solution that display on my earpiece ’s projection screen , which is generally not what I want .
For the past few week I ’ve been trying to opine what Apple could bring to this kind of product . With apologies to everyone involved , here ’s what I ’m thinking .
Siri Speaker
For simplicity ’s rice beer , I ’ll call the product Siri Speaker — commingle the well - make out brand name of Apple ’s digital assistant with a discussion that comes with a useful double meaning .
The Siri Speaker should be pocket-sized , standardised in size of it to the Echo or Sonos ’s $ 200 Play:1 speaker unit . Devices like these should be placed in a prominent , fundamental placement , and space is usually at a bounty there . I keep my Echo on the measure in my kitchen . When I attempt the much tumid $ 500 Sonos Play:5 in the kitchen , it was overkill — it learn up too much space and I did n’t really need the extra audio a large verbalizer provided .
I sham that Apple would advertise the Siri Speaker as featuring integrate Beats audio , using the expertness of the Beats division to trade beneficial sound . The Echo ’s mono speaker sounds ok , but it ’s not as skillful as the Play:1 , and my guess is that Apple would want to want to boast about the good audio quality of such a product . I would also accept that , like the Echo , it would boast multiple microphone that would earmark it to take heed over a surprisingly large area .
I would simulate that in pattern , Siri Speaker would be very much like the Siri experience on the iPhone or the Apple TV . It would need to provide admission to the usual information generator , and would need to be tweaked so it would read more information loud , as it would if you were connected to Siri while driving a car .
These part agent stand or fall based on the richness of the data source they ’re impound to . Siri Speaker would give me access to Apple Music , of course , as well as my iTunes Match library . Integration with Apple ’s Podcasts app would put it one move ahead of the contest . This is the perfect gadget to take Apple ’s HomeKit enterprise to the bow , and of track it should tolerate AirPlay . I ’d love to be able-bodied to call for Siri Speaker where my tike are and have it utilize get My Friends to give me an resolution . The list become on .
supporting for other non - Apple euphony services would be swell , but it ’s hard to see Apple work firmly to integrate competitors into its ecosystem . That ’s why it ’s authoritative that Siri Speaker have the equivalent of an App Store , where third - party developers can progress consolidation for other services . ( Regular Siri needs this , too . )
One of Echo ’s greatest features is its ability to integrate not just with Amazon ’s pet cooperator , but with just about anyone who require to work up a “ skill ” for Alexa . My Echo natively understands the Philips Hue twinkle electric-light bulb I do n’t own , but I can still check my LIFX bulbs ( and Nest thermostat ) with my voice . A machine that ’s lock into a few options with no ability to fork out ca n’t ride comfortable at the center of the nursing home . as luck would have it , Apple has nifty experience building platforms for third - party developers — while curating the experience carefully .
Beyond that , I ’m not certain Apple involve to jam more technology into the Siri Speaker . add AirPort Express - comparable functionality , so it could function as a Wi - Fi router or repeater , would be fun — but the best place in the house for a speaker with vox control is very rarely the sound place for a wireless router . And the idea of stuffing wireless infrastructure station tech in a ware like this feel a bit too much like a toaster - fridge to me .
Fending off doom
Does Appleneedto make a product like the Siri Speaker ? No , of naturally not . But it seems like Siri is a set of features that is very authoritative to Apple , present that Siri appears on iPhones , iPads , the Apple Watch , and the Apple TV . There are even hearsay of the Mac getting a Siri boost in the next OS Adam update .
If Siri is that central to Apple ’s strategy , should n’t it be usable more centrally to all of us ? The Amazon Echo work on because it feels omnipresent in my house in a agency that “ Hey Siri ” on my iPhone does n’t . Having a smart , attached speaker ( or several of them ! ) in your animation country is also a powerful style to sell music service — I pay for Amazon ’s equivalent of iTunes Match just to make my Echo work better — and that means such a Cartesian product could make sentiency just as a Trojan Horse with Apple Music inside . ( perchance it should be call the Apple Music Speaker ? )
Apple does n’t need to make the Siri Speaker , or whatever you want to call it . But after spending a few weeks with the Amazon Echo , I have a hard time seeing why it would n’t want to do so . This is the sort of production that Apple could tap out of the park . I desire one on my kitchen counter tomorrow .
