Apple will show what it means by "Welcome home" at 3pm South African time today, at a press event in Tribeca, New York. Its marketing chief, Greg Joswiak, posted the date in a short teaser video last week, and invitations went out to the press at the same moment. Apple has not said what it will show. Almost everything else in circulation comes from one reporter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, relayed by TechCrunch, The Verge and 9to5Mac.
What Bloomberg says is coming
The centrepiece, according to Gurman, is a smart-home hub called HomeView: a screen that answers to Siri, runs on Apple's A18 chip and controls the other smart devices in your home. He reports two versions, one to stand on a countertop and one to fix to a wall, and The Verge, working from the same reports, describes a square touchscreen of about 6 inches. As recently as Sunday afternoon The Verge was still listing HomePad and Apple Home Hub as possible names, before a last-minute Gurman report settled on HomeView and a mid-November shipping date.
What sets it apart is what it leaves out. Gurman says HomeView will not be an iPad-like device with an App Store, and will offer a much more limited experience. No App Store means owners get the features Apple builds in and nothing more, which is the opposite of a tablet, where the whole point is downloading whatever you want.
It may not be alone on stage. Gurman also expects new versions of the Apple TV box and the HomePod mini speaker, and has reported that Apple plans a partnership with LG on a smart lock, a thermostat and a doorbell. The Verge adds that a new software platform called homeOS could appear too.
Why the smart home has been hard for Apple
Apple has been here before. TechCrunch points out that neither HomeKit, its software for linking home devices, nor the HomePod speaker got much traction, which would make HomeView the company's most serious bet on the smart home so far. If the reports are right, the bet is a narrower device rather than a bigger one.
Nothing reported so far covers South African pricing or a local launch date. Apple fills in the rest this afternoon, starting with whether the thing is called HomeView at all.
