It is practically an evidence that in recent years, the only segment of devices that resists Apple is that of smart speakers that are used to give voice commands to the assistant. Google has its Home and Nest models for years, that sells like churros, Y Amazon has the Echoswhich, with or without a screen, have managed to carve out a significant niche for themselves in our own homes.
Apple does not hit the key
This being the case, those of Tim Cook are still wondering why there is no way to sell HomePods, despite the Mini alternative or the old ability to reproduce audio with a certain level of quality that make them a good way to listen to music . But the truth is that today, that range of devices are completely marginal within the catalog that those from Cupertino have.
But that could be about to end if the rumors around the company come true, as they speak of the development of a curious accessory that we can use with our iPad. In this way, they could end up resembling one of those Echo Shows that Amazon sells and that have a screen to offer us extra content and explanations for everything we ask of them.
The fact is that, as the famous leaker Mark Gurmann, Apple is working on an accessory that would work as a support base of their latest iPads, in such a way that we could use them as if it were a home screen, not just to view content or handle it more easily, but as a new way of interacting with Siri and all the things we ask her for on a daily basis.
It looks like an Echo Show, or an old iMac?
As can be seen from the concept images that have appeared, the Apple accessory would turn the iPad into a kind of virtual assistant with a screen in the style of the Amazon Echo Show that, as in the case of the model with a 10-inch panel, has a support that orients it towards the user, making it more manageable and easy to use.
This arrangement of the iPad, which would stick to the base through a powerful system of magnets, would make it easier for the user to orient the screen in various directions and bring tasks such as carrying out video calls with Facetime or, for example, having a resource nearby when cooking that allows the recipes and ingredients that we must use to be projected on the screen. What’s more, the lower part of the system would keep a speaker through which we could better listen to the assistant and even enjoy playing music or multimedia content with a certain degree of quality.
According to the cited leaker“Last year I reported that Apple is exploring a standalone device that combines an iPad with a speaker-equipped accessory. The idea is to offer something that users can place on the kitchen table, in the living room or on the nightstand. But Apple has also worked on an iPad docking accessory that could be sold separately and would accomplish much the same thing.”
We will see what is the result of this strategy of going one step beyond the lukewarm HomePod.
