Who is ready for Apple screens and software throughout the house in a way that creates an end-to-end experience? Especially ones with built in cameras.
Anyone? Anyone?
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Anything that’s more private than Amazon’s and Google’s offerings would be welcome. But it all depends on the implementation and pricing.
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I sure hope this rumored “HomePod with robotic iPad-like screen” is more than an Apple clone of the ill-received Amazon Echo with the robotic moving screen.
I know expecting Apple to do even anything more than copying a competitor’s product several years late is a low bar, but Apple has still to show they want to be a serious 1st tier player in the smart home market.
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Pricing will be a major factor… people don’t have endless budgets for Apple hardware. That said, I’ve been disappointed by my Amazon Echo Show and how poorly it makes use of its screen. There has been little recent innovation.
If Apple can produce something integrated with its ecosystem, with a relatively low cost option (like the HomePod mini), good privacy abd - possibly - AI, it could breathe new life into the market.
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Honestly, before Apple upgrades the HomePod and provides screens everywhere. They need to fix Siri. The most annoying thing about a digital assistant is when they stink at doing their task.
“Siri, who won the 2023 Super Bowl”
“You will need to unlock your iPhone for that”
“Siri, tell me when did the American Civil War start”
“I can send you information to your phone”
… I used to have Amazon Echoes in the house (got rid of them due to privacy concerns), but I did appreciate that when I asked a question, I got almost a wiki response.
So yea, they need to fix Siri, so that the HomePod becomes useful. It would also be great if they updated the AirPods Max instead of just giving us…usb-c and more colors.
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When I realized Siri’s response to questions about Apple, for example “When did Apple introduce iCloud?” was almost always “I think apple.com should be able to help you with that“. I quit asking Siri questions.
I put the Google Assistant in the dock of my iPhone and purchased a couple of Google mini’s for my home. I now limit my use of Siri to turning lights on/off at home. And handling play/pause or volume up/down on my iPhone.
Since Apple Intelligence is on-device, and doesn’t a work on older hardware, I don’t expect existing HomePods will ever improve.
The G4 was a great design, that had many admirers.
But the black gaffer tape that I put over any built in camera would detract from its looks. 
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White tape is available!
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We’re pretty unlikely to buy a video kiosk, but I’m interested in how they’d implement the UI. It would be the first visual interface for Personal Requests, assuming it’s like a HomePod.
I will never understand the negativity around Siri. I use it constantly with great success. On an iPad Siri handles your two examples with no problem. I didn’t try on an iPhone.
I wrote a blog post several months ago detailing my Siri use partly in response to a spate of negative articles around that time. My experience with it is the opposite of what I read others having.
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I downloaded Siri before Apple purchased it and worked with it for a long time after it was introduced on the iPhone 4. But I learned to hate it because it can’t be relied on to respond to commands the same way every time. YMMV
Last year “The Information” reported that many Apple employees aren’t fans of Siri either
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There is clearly a groundswell of people with direct experience (myself included) where Siri is a terrible experience most of the time, and barely worthwhile, the rest of the time.
Given the tremendous amount of negative experiences documented online, in blogs, and especially in casual conversation with my non-tech friends and relatives (so called “regular people”), you are in the minority of happy users.
I don’t discount that Siri works for you; I only suggest, that most people disagree and this is not a case of “you’re holding it wrong”.
To use one of Steve Job’s own insights, if everyone has the perception that Siri is useless, then Siri is useless. (Perception, not data, is reality.)
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Since it’s not a device that folds closed, there will be the opportunity for a third-party to make a $20 camera cover that matches the device. And of course Belkin can make one that Apple can sell on its website for $50. 
I still don’t completely understand Apple’s logic regarding when the iPhone is locked in such a way that I can’t use it. I run into this with Siri, I run into this with the iPhone screen mirroring, lots of miscellaneous stuff. There are times when I will try to do something with Siri or the mirroring five seconds after I get off the phone call – a phone call that I unlocked my iPhone and dialed – and it is pretty convinced that I need to unlock my phone again.
“Groundhog Day” is one of my favorite movies for a lot of reasons. But one of them has to be because “Phil” got thousands of chances (he repeated the day so often he learned to play the piano) to get things right. Last night I remembered the scene where he was in a truck telling the groundhog to “Don’t drive angry”. I need to keep a note on my iPad that says “Don’t post angry”.
Yesterday I quickly responded to @Denny that “I hate Siri”. This morning I took the time to read his linked blog post about how Siri works well for him. I admit that Siri would probably work better for me if I wasn’t frustrated from dealing with it since its"birth". The problem is I didn’t read his entire post before firing back.
Love it or hate it Siri’s days are numbered. AFAIK the promised “Apple Intelligence” Siri will not share any DNA with its parents and will stand or fail on its own. It’s time for me to let it go. Sorry @Denny.
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Did you read my post and the detailed examples I provided? I would love to see lists of specific examples where it fails.
I just don’t understand how my experience can be such an outlier and honestly, when I see reports of how terrible Siri is they are rarely accompanied by any details of failures. It feels like an online pile-on without supporting evidence. Anytime I write about my Siri experience which I’ve done several times over the past few years I detail the specifics of what is working for me and what is not.
Anecdotally, I’ve surveyed my own extended family (normal, non-techies) several times over the years and of those that use Siri (about half of them) they are satisfied to very satisfied. The other half never got in the habit and didn’t have an opinion.
It occurs to me that perhaps the vast difference in reported satisfaction with Siri hinges on the device and mode being used. I use Siri from the iPad 90% of the time and the iPad is probably not the primary device being used by most people. When I use Siri with the iPad I’m in full-computing mode not on-the-go casual iPhone mode when the device may be locked. I rarely use with the Watch or HomePods.
No worries and thanks for reading, thanks for the follow-up!
I would add that the reliability of an Internet connection is probably a significant factor too. Despite Apple’s claims that Siri does a lot of processing on device, within the last year I have still found it routinely unable to interpret basic instructions unless it has an Internet connection.
And I am not talking about its ability to recognize what I am saying. I am talking about its ability to act on what I am saying. Simple stuff like, “end navigation.” I could fire up a voice memo app and it can understand the words I’m saying just fine – Siri just doesn’t seem to know what to do with that piece of information.
I am hoping that the on device AI features remedy some of these issues.
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I use Siri entirely on my phone and watch, and my experience and opinion is somewhere in the middle. Sometimes it works well and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s especially annoying when I’m driving and it repeatedly misunderstands what music I’m telling it to play even when I’ve played it multiple times on Apple Music and it’s in my playlists.
But I keep using it because the alternatives from Google and Meta are privacy nightmares. Siri may not be perfectly private, but it’s the only option that’s currently acceptable to me.
I treat the Google Assistant like email and never expect any privacy when I use it.