Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) Siri Speaker Will Try to Topple the Market

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Smart speakers — led by Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Amazon Echo — have rapidly become the smart home hub of choice among consumers. With Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Home making headway and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) showing off Cortana-equipped smart speakers, a Siri speaker from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was only a matter of time.

Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) Siri Speaker Will Try to Topple the Market

Source: Apple

The device was already expected as a likely debut at WWDC 2017, and now a report says Apple’s take on the smart speaker has entered production.

Siri Speaker Is in Production

Bloomberg is reporting that AAPL’s answer to the Amazon Echo — the so-called Siri speaker — is now in production. Although Apple declined to comment on the story, Bloomberg’s sources say Apple has started manufacturing its smart speaker, along with partner Inventec Corp TWD10 (OTCMKTS:IVCJF). If that name sounds vaguely familiar, the Taiwanese company was previously tapped by AAPL to make its AirPods wireless earbuds.

Apple’s Smart Speaker to Focus on Audio Performance

The current crop of smart speakers have become the unexpected hub to the smart home, but their supposed primary purpose is a weak point: they don’t sound great. Microsoft was the first to recognize and exploit this opportunity. It has been showing off a Cortana speaker designed by Harman Kardon, the high-end audio company recently acquired by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (OTCMKTS:SSNLF).

Apple also seems to be taking this approach. It was previously reported that the Siri speaker, which visually resembles the Mac Pro, would be equipped with up to eight drivers — a woofer and seven tweeters. Google Home has one driver with two passive radiators, while the Amazon Echo has two drivers. Apple has its Beats audio division to draw on for technical expertise, and Bloomberg’s sources claim the Siri Speaker is being positioned to outperform its rivals when it comes to the music listening experience.

“Along with generating virtual surround sound, the speakers being tested are louder and reproduce sound more crisply than rival offerings. Apple has also considered including sensors that measure a room’s acoustics and automatically adjust audio levels during use.”

According to Bloomberg, the one thing AAPL’s Siri speaker will not have is a display, despite the new Amazon Echo Show and previous comments by Apple executives about the usefulness of a display for interacting with smart speakers.

Will We See the Siri Speaker at WWDC 2017?

With AAPL analysts and rumor sites all converging on the likelihood that the Siri speaker will be positioned as a premium audio device, the two remaining questions are price and release date.

Price is anyone’s guess. Apple tends to charge a little more for its products, but on the other hand the AirPods were surprisingly inexpensive compared to wireless earbuds already on the market. So it could be $99, it could be $299, or anything in between. We’ll have to wait to see where AAPL goes with pricing.

Release date is also up in the air at this point. Many analysts are still looking for Apple to reveal the Siri speaker onstage at WWDC 2017. Bloomberg also suggests this is a possibility, but its sources say the speaker won’t actually be ready to start shipping until later in the year.

I am in the camp that’s expecting AAPL to take the wraps off the Siri speaker at next week’s event.

Consumers have spoken and they’re spending money on smart speakers as their smart home hubs. Every day that Apple isn’t there, the Amazon Echo is building its lead. Apple needs a Siri speaker to boost its HomeKit smart home adoption, and keep growing Apple Music –instead of having subscribers potentially jump ship to listen to Amazon Music Unlimited on an Echo or Google Play Music on a Google Home.

With Essential now showing off an advanced smart speaker and those Cortana-equipped smart speakers arriving soon, it’s time for AAPL to show its hand. Even if it’s not yet ready to ship, the existence of an Apple smart speaker –especially one that’s not only “smart” but also an actual replacement for a premium Bluetooth speaker when it comes to listening to music– will make many people wait before jumping on a competing platform. So look for the Siri Speaker to debut at WWDC 2017, although you may have to wait a few months to actually buy one.

As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Brad Moon has been writing for InvestorPlace.com since 2012. He also writes about stocks for Kiplinger and has been a senior contributor focusing on consumer technology for Forbes since 2015.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/06/apple-inc-aapl-stock-siri-speaker/.

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