I don’t choose those examples at random. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reviewing the latest Apple Watch and the latest set of AirPods, which is why they’re in my thoughts. They’re both good products, but it’s particularly striking how much of the winning formula was there from the very beginning. Neither of those products change very much from year to year because they don’t need to. Apple got it right the first time, and now just needs to tweak and iterate.
The Home app was never quite like that, which I suspect is one of the reasons why it has never reached the same level of success. It didn’t come charging out of the gate the way the AirPods did, all confident design and omnipresent ads. It didn’t have the same marketing push behind it, the same level of visibility on Apple’s website. Home didn’t feel like a proper first-party product, just a vague umbrella concept for third-party accessories with varying levels of polish. The problem is that, uncharacteristically, Apple didn’t commit.
This week is Apple’s chance to renew its vows to the smart-home market and commit properly. Tomorrow, October 13, Apple holds its latest “Special Experience,” and the theme is hardly a secret: The tagline is “Welcome Home” and rumors of imminent launches have been unavoidable for weeks.
Apple is about to give the smart home another try. It will do this, most pundits agree, with an updated HomePod mini and Apple TV, along with something completely new: a home hub that looks a bit like half an iPad sitting on half a HomePod. Nobody is sure what this latter product will be called. HomePad is both obvious and logical, but it’s also rather boring. HomeHub is another option. My money is on something suitably new, such as the latest rumors suggest, HomeView.
Exciting new Apple hardware is a good start, and the HomeHub (let’s stick with that for now) would represent a gratifying statement of intent in being so obviously targeted at the smart home in a way no other first-party Apple product has been. The iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and later HomePod could all be used to control home tech, but they had other purposes too. Without the home element, the HomeHub would seem rather pointless. It’s a risk. It’s a commitment.
But a smart-home ecosystem lives and dies by its lights, thermostats, doorbells, locks, and security cameras, not by the hub units which control them. And in that sphere Apple is still reluctant to commit.
