It is practically 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, which sells like hotcakes, y Amazon has the Echo, which, with or without a screen, have managed to carve out an important niche within our own home.
Apple does not hit the key
This being the case, those of Tim Cook are still wondering why there is no way to sell the 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 of 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 looking like one of those Echo Shows that Amazon sells and that have a screen to offer us extra content and explanations to everything we ask for.
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 domestic screen, not to view content or manage it more easily, but as a new way of relating to Siri and all the things we ask of it 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, Apple's 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, enjoys a support that orients it towards the user, making its use more manageable and easy.
This provision 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 making 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 delight ourselves. 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 do much the same thing."
We will see what is the result of this strategy of going one step beyond the lukewarm HomePod.