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Apple is celebrating the decade of the iPhone, but on some tracks the train is derailing. Is he planning something big?

Ondrej Holzman
16

The last week in the technology world was marked by the CES trade fair in Las Vegas and also the tenth birthday of which celebrated iPhone. While there was quite a celebration in Cupertino, the fair in Las Vegas showed that Apple should probably work in other sectors as well.

Ten years since the introduction of the first iPhone, which was performed at Macworld on January 9, 2007 by Steve Jobs, was commemorated on Monday not only by most technology magazines. The success of the Apple phone is completely unprecedented, and rightfully so, with more than one billion iPhones sold in one decade.

Hand in hand with the enormous popularity of the iPhone, the aforementioned Consumer Electronics Show was also held every year, at which, although Apple has not officially exhibited for a quarter of a century, most of the exhibiting companies did it a favor, because they brought an endless number of accessories for its products - and especially iPhones - every year. This year, however, the trend seems to have changed.

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This year's fair was traditionally attended by Ota Schön from Hospodářské noviny, who shared his impressions he described eloquently:

Apple is starting to lose control of the American market. Manufacturers no longer brag about connecting to Siri and HomeKit. Instead, they offer a connection with Amazon's Alexa assistant and cooperation with services that are also available on Android. The CES fair thus confirmed that Apple is currently outside the mainstream of innovation.

Although Apple does not traditionally exhibit at CES, the difference in the company's influence was massive. News is presented directly with Android applications, even when presenting software and services, Android is much more common, especially in America, where the share of iOS and Android is equal.

The situation at CES may not be indicative of Apple's performance or future, but it's certainly an interesting indicator. It must be admitted that even the traditional endless supply of accessories for everything with a bitten apple logo on it was nowhere near as interesting and did not attract as much attention this year.

Incipio showed the cover, which brings back the headphone jack to the iPhone 7, Griffin likes too much failed to replace MagSafe and if it really sticks the massive DEC docking station from OWC under the new MacBook Pro, is a big unknown. Among the most successful pieces are perhaps only verified docks from Henge Docks and is an interesting option for athletes with an Apple Watch on my arm.

Last year, HomeKit was getting quite a lot of attention. Apple's platform for the Internet of Things and smart home control was introduced almost three years ago, but the launch, which would have been expected at CES in view of the developments in this area, did not take place this year at all. Rather you unfortunately we can ask a similar question like two years ago.

Not that there were no HomeKit-related news in Las Vegas, but it was mainly an extension of current products, such as the most popular bulbs and lights of all kinds, thermostats, locks or smoke detectors and similar sensors. Of the new categories, only cameras made a significant impact.

Many would expect that after such a time, the Apple Online Store will offer more than just 13 products for HomeKit (the American one has 26 of them). Alza has 62 items in the HomeKit category, but the vast majority of them are again just similar bulbs or lamps. This is also a pretty good illustration of the state of HomeKit.

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This Apple solution at CES was significantly overshadowed by the Alexa voice assistant hidden in Amazon's Echo, which, paradoxically, is very similar in age to HomeKit. However, it is experiencing a much faster onset and the popularity of a similar solution is growing significantly, especially in the United States. Amazon Echo has a voice assistant in it, which is constantly listening, for example in the kitchen, and carries out your commands. And among other things, like HomeKit, it can connect to smart appliances and a smart home in general.

Jacob Kastrenakes of The Verge about this year's performance of HomeKit at CES he wrote:

What HomeKit continues to lack is some of the excitement that has now built around Amazon's Alexa — a voice assistant, but also a home control and automation tool. You could argue that Apple's slow and steady approach and its emphasis on security are valuable. The smart home remains a niche market that is still at a very early stage in terms of functionality.

But at this point, there's also the argument that Alexa is inside refrigerators and able to control ovens, dishwashers, and vacuum cleaners, while HomeKit just adds more electrical outlets. And this fact may give Amazon an edge.

The fact that you can now control mainly lights, sockets and thermostats with HomeKit may not really be so dramatic yet, because the smart home and its possibilities are still expanding, but this year's CES clearly indicated where the next steps are going and Apple is missing.

Of course, not only Amazon's Alexa is becoming more and more capable and integrated, but Google also wants to attack with its Assistant in Home or Samsung with its own voice assistant. With them, we can be almost certain of integration into refrigerators and other similar products. Apple is keeping quiet for now, and while its HomeKit works well, it may be losing users.

The status of Siri, Apple's voice assistant, also goes hand in hand with this. The battle is not only about which device we will use to control the light or the washing machine, but above all how - and Amazon and Google are convinced that with voice. Their voice assistants have already caught up with the previously born Siri and are now entering other areas, while Siri remains confined to the iPhone, i.e. the iPad or the new Mac. Even this can hold companies back from supporting HomeKit, because they don't know what kind of future Apple is painting for Siri.

amazon echo

In connection with Amazon Echo or Google Home, it was already speculated that Apple is preparing its own voice assistant for households, but it has not yet taken any steps for this. Apple's head of marketing Schil Philler, among other things, on this topic on the occasion of the 10th birthday of the iPhone he spoke with Steven Levy and stated that he thinks it's important that Siri is in every iPhone:

“This is very important and I'm glad our team decided to create Siri years ago. I think we're doing more with this conversational interface than anyone else. Personally, I think the best smart assistant is still the one that is always with you. Having an iPhone with me that I can talk to is better than something sitting in my kitchen or posted on the wall somewhere.”

To Levy's follow-up question that Amazon doesn't see Alexa as just a voice interface connected to a single device, but rather as a ubiquitous cloud product that can listen to you anytime, anywhere, Schiller replied:

“People forget the value and importance of the display. One of the biggest iPhone innovations over the past ten years has been the display. Displays don't just go away. We still like to take pictures and we have to look at them somewhere, and that's not enough for my voice without a display.

Phil Schiller's comments are interesting for two reasons. On the one hand, this is one of the few mentions of Apple representatives about this area, and on the other hand, they can indicate what Apple intends here. The rejection of the current concept of the Amazon Echo does not mean that Apple-like smart assistants, for example, are not of interest in the home. After all, there were already speculations last year that the next generation Echo could also have a large display for even greater possibilities of use. And that could be Apple's way.

For now, however, Apple is just as silent here as in other areas. This year's CES was not only about the smart home, but also about virtual reality, which as a new segment in the technological world is also starting to gain momentum. While most relevant companies have already gotten involved in some way, Apple is waiting. According to its CEO Tim Cook, he is mainly interested in augmented reality, but we don't know what that means yet.

It may again be an effective strategy for Apple to come up with a winning cocktail later and perhaps beat Amazon Echo and its Alexa (or anyone else), but it cannot be relied upon. For both voice assistants and virtual reality, feedback and continuous improvement based on real-world use of these products is largely key, something Apple certainly cannot simulate in its labs.

In addition to traditional products such as iPhones, iPads or MacBooks, a number of other areas are opening up for Apple to enter with its products. In connection with the tenth birthday of the iPhone, it is also worth remembering that the very first Apple TV was also introduced on the same day. Unlike the world of phones, however, Apple has so far failed to bring about the revolution prophesied several times in our living rooms with televisions.

But maybe Apple ignores these categories because it focuses on something else that completely exhausts its resources and capacities. It would not be the first time that the Californian company did not venture into some areas due to its own conviction that it was not worth it, preferring to focus its attention elsewhere. It could easily be a much-vaunted automotive project, but here we are really only moving on the basis of speculation.

If Apple is not interested in the smart home field more broadly than the current Homekit, or has no plans to penetrate the attractive world of VR or AR, many users will have to look to the competition for solutions. However, by omitting these categories, Apple could deprive itself of a great opportunity to further expand its ecosystem, to connect its devices even more, and to immerse users even more in everything, which, among other things, brings profit.

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