OFweek smart home network news Beijing time at 6 o'clock on June 6, 2017, the 28th WWDC Apple Global Developers Conference as scheduled. Like the annual WWDC, thousands of outstanding developers from all over the world gather in San Jose to experience Apple's latest scientific achievements.
The WWDC conference mainly released six products, in addition to the traditional iOS 10, Mac OS, TVOS, WatchOS, iPad Pro and HomePod. Among them, iOS has added the function of controlling speakers and speakers, and by adding machine learning, Siri has also become more intelligent, and it can predict the user's next move in the future. 6 products can be described as their own merits, it is very bright.
However, to say that the conference is the most strategic and most attractive hardware products, then when it comes to smart home speaker HomePod, as the final product of Kuclon reintroduced the final product, HomePod can be described as long-awaited. So, what's the highlight of Bo’s eye-catching HomePod? The following Xiao Bian will take a closer look and interpret it for everyone.
Smart Speaker HomePod Appears Approx
As the release of finale products, Cook began talking about music after he re-staged. In fact, music has always been rooted in Apple's genes. From iTunes, iPod, Apple Music to Airpods, all products are related to music. It can be said that Apple has succeeded itself because of its music business, and it has completely changed the music industry and changed. The way everyone listens to music. What kind of music products should I use at home? Apple's new smart home speaker HomePod will completely change the way you enjoy music in your home.
In fact, there are also many home speaker products on the market today, whether it is wireless speakers or smart speakers that can talk and chat. However, there is no product that can bring revolutionary changes to home listening music. Apple HomePod hopes to completely change this and integrate the above products together to make a speaker product that is different from other products, completely changing the way people listen to music at home.
So how do we make a revolutionary change? It must have the following 4 qualities:
1. Rock the house
First of all, HomePod does not install touch screens like the previous Echo, but pays more attention to audio quality. It is the nature of returning to the speakers first, and you must make it possible for you to move with your music. The sound quality must not be distorted. Only then can you enjoy your music.
The HomePod has great audio technology. There are seven beamforming tweeter arrays underneath that allow for precise acoustics and directional control. And Apple also designed a good low frequency speaker, automatic bass equalization, dynamic modeling. Although the 7-inch figure is small, even if the volume is turned up, the sound quality will not be distorted. HomePod uses the A8 processor chip used in Apple phones. It also features real-time acoustic modeling, audio beamforming, and multi-channel echo cancellation technology, making it the fastest and best-in-class smart speaker.
2. Spatial awareness
Second, it is the sense of space, that is, your music is played in different ways in different ways. As the name suggests, when the HomePod is placed in the room, the space effect can be detected and the music effect can be adjusted according to the scene environment.
Accurate directionality, echo cancellation, can fill the room with music. If you use a pair of HomePod, the effect will be even better.
3. Musicologist
Third, there must be the participation of music artists and help us to explore all kinds of music. We can enjoy more beautiful music through the music library on the Apple Cloud.
4. Home assistant
HomePod built-in Apple Siri, using 6 wheat ring array technology, compared to Google Home, Apple speakers more accurate positioning, farther away from the pickup. You don't have to be near it, far away from it, just say "Hey, Siri," and the indicator on top of it will light up. Listen to your instructions.
Of course, in addition to playing music, he is also a good home helper. It can also broadcast traffic information, news, weather, stocks, send messages, timers, and more. In addition, HomePod and HomeKit are highly integrated, allowing Siri to control the entire smart home device with voice control, allowing users to control home lighting, door locks, and curtains—before Apple TV or iPad was used for control.
Not only that, but Siri will also identify whether your voice matches your ID and strictly protect your privacy.
Smart Speaker HomePod Shipment Information
At present, Apple Homepod has launched two white and space ash, priced at 349 US dollars, can be described as a conscience price. It is expected that in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia will be sold simultaneously in December, and global shipments will wait until later in next year.
Why does Apple have to launch smart speakers?
As early as 2016, the rumors about Apple's plan to release smart home devices were bleak. Undoubtedly, major businesses have long realized that the space for speech interaction can be applied and played. The importance of intelligent voice as an artificial intelligence portal has its irresistible trend in the areas of transportation, smart home, medical care, education, and finance.
According to the 2017 Voice Report released by VoiceLabs, sales of smart voice devices in 2015 and 2016 are 6.5 million units, and in 2017, this figure may reach 24.5 million units. According to the Global Market Insights data, the annual growth of the global voice market in the next seven years is 34.9%, and the market size is expected to reach US$11 billion by 2024.
From Echo Amazon's best-selling, everyone gradually turned their attention to smart speakers. Google launched Google Home, and Microsoft teamed up with Harman Kardon and Hewlett-Packard to launch smart speakers equipped with Cortana. Although Apple used the smart headset Airpod to seize the entrance to the voice market, however, with Amazon Alexa through Echo in the smart home market, it seems that it gradually began to swallow Apple's market share in the smart home, and gradually stabilize its voice interactive portal, Alexa It seems to be the new generation of "Android" or "OS." It seems that Apple's launch of the Homepod is indeed imperative.
Google Home
In fact, the landing scenario of voice products is mainly divided into two types. First, near-field voice interaction is represented by mobile voice assistants (such as Siri); the other is far-field voice interaction, mainly in the vehicle environment and smart home environment. Voice interactive products (such as Amazon Echo) represented.
With the continuous development of the field of artificial intelligence, people began to pursue more free speech interaction methods, and the advantages of far-field speech interaction gradually became apparent. In fact, prior to Echo's appearance, voice interactive products had always been solved near-field problems. This is a typical case of deliberately avoiding scenarios due to technical limitations because near-field speech interaction requires humans to adapt to the machine.
However, the voice interaction between humans has always been a certain distance, so now requires the machine to adapt to humans. Machine adaptation to humans can be said to be a tremendous advancement in computer technology and one of the core elements of artificial intelligence.
Of course, this is not a problem unique to the acoustics field. When the camera and radar are installed in the car and the GPS is installed in the bicycle, the technical challenges brought by the scene change will be highlighted because the technical support needed for the real scene is not simply upgraded. However, it is disruptive innovation. This is the main reason why giant companies have entered this field one after another. No one wants to be eliminated in the process of upgrading technology.
Of course, a single sensing method is not enough to promote the entire technology and social transformation. The effects of single sensing are always limited. For example, a microphone array can acquire human voice information in natural conversations, and gradually evolve to understand human language. This is terrible, which means that the machine can understand human thought in the future. However, this understanding is one-sided, because there is still lack of other sensory information such as image, location, and so on.
Therefore, from this perspective, artificial intelligence must integrate more sensing methods. This is not limited to acoustic-optical thermo-magnetic, but also depends on powerful computing and storage capabilities in order to surpass humans in certain areas and thus understand humans to understand the world. This may promote the birth of more new business models.
In fact, when the fusion data acquired by the machine is sufficient to cover one tenth of the human population, humans do need to speak, look, or think about the machine for many times. But at this time, we do not know. What new business models will be generated in the end, after all, from our perspective, the advertising model is certainly not the best business model in the era of artificial intelligence.
Giants have launched their own voice interactive products, just to open the curtain of the era of artificial intelligence, with technological progress and industrial development, more intelligent, and even preliminary understanding of human equipment will emerge one after another, with the change of existing Most business models. Obviously, missing the next era is unacceptable to the giants.
With the addition of Homepod, the competition for future voice interactions will intensify. Both the Homepod, Echo, and Google Home have their advantages and disadvantages. The types and quality of voice data collected by each platform in the future, the quantity and quality of the loaded apps will be the key to success, and smart speakers and other products will also be available. In order to better fit the daily life of humans, we will also enjoy more intelligent and comfortable services in the near future.