It has been a long time since Apple has renewed its range of AirPort products, devices responsible for distributing Internet connection to all household devices, devices that are usually placed in the center of the house and that Apple is just starting to stop selling.
This can mean two things, or either Apple has given up and is going to stop selling them (highly unlikely given that recently released a software update for AirPorts), or there is a new and improved version On the way, and with WWDC2016 just around the corner, the second option is the most likely.
All the pieces fit together, this is just my guess, but let's see what the odds are:
- All the rumors point to that Siri is going to be deeply updated to keep up with the rest of AIs market.
- The AirPort is the device with the most ballots to occupy a central place in the home and be Always connected to Internet.
- The AirPort has not been updated for a long time, and it is the device that would best accept the inclusion of a speaker and microphone unidirectional to invoke Siri (and already have AirPlay audio by default)
- Many rumors point to a new AppleTV 5, but personally I don't see a microphone and speaker on a new AppleTV with the fourth generation still getting so successful.
- AirPort is a device always on and always connected to a power source, just what a Siri Always-On would need.
My assumption is based on these four pillars, a new and renewed AirPort with a vitaminized application that shelters a Siri much more advanced, and by the way, this yes, it becomes the HomeKit brain in our home, and in turn distributes the internet to all our devices.
The latest rumors also suggest that the new device with Siri would have a camera and facial recognition, something that the AirPort could do, however I think these may be wrong, Apple has long been training our iPhone to recognize our voice with Hey Siri In the iPhone 6s, in an AirPort, being a device for the whole family, there are no users that are worth it, however, with a good arrangement of microphones, and knowing the devices that are connected to the home network, you could identify by the Apple account that people live in that house (and even those who visit) and through the speech recognition already trained to identify who calls Siri at that moment.
Because let's face it, can you imagine a new AppleTV placed next to our television listening to us from the other end of the house, and having a built-in speaker and microphone when using the television's speakers and the remote's microphone?
That said, it only remains to wait for the WWDC to be held on 13 June, a conference that we hope to cover and we will be at the bottom of the barrel to inform you of each and every one of the news at the time of being presented, and finally I want to ask your opinion, do you agree with me? Do you see possible that the AirPort is the device that hosts Siri for the whole home instead of the Apple TV?
At the airport it makes more sense to do it than on apple tv
It would not be a bad idea, you could also have different Airport Express in different places in the house with microphone and speakers (which would connect with Time Capsule or Airport Extreme as central) and you could have this assistant always by your side. I have seen for example that Google Home (Nest's design is noticeable) or Amazon Echo (quite ugly) as they present a product, if you go to different parts of the house you should have several (this would imply a fairly high cost price) or simply it only works where you put it. If Apple competitively priced the Airport Express, it could put the competition in serious trouble…. We'll see what WWDC has in store for us !!!!!