Its electric car project having been abandoned, Apple must find the next category of products to develop. This time, it would be about creating small robots.
Apple is starting to have a bit of a reputation when it comes to developing iconic devices, like the iPod and iPhone when they were released. In the space of a single conference, the Californian company is able to make an impression, and then carve out a place of choice in certain segments.
But when you are a tech company, you have to continually innovate to maintain visibility in a very competitive sector. So, now that the Vision Pro has propelled Apple, for better and for worse, into the world of VR, what will the firm’s next bet be?
A tool to make conversations on FaceTime more lively
When it comes to juicy new information regarding the Cupertino giant, Mark Gurman is the one to listen to. This correspondent of Bloomberg often has very exclusive information on Apple’s work and interesting analysis. Each of his new papers is eagerly awaited, and this week, he did not disappoint.
According to him, Apple would look into a whole new area: robotics. It is not (yet?) a question of creating an android butler or an industrial machine, but rather of imagining what a domestic robot could be. People who wished to remain anonymous told Gurman that the company has “ developed an advanced tabletop home device that uses robotics to move a screen “.
The idea would be to have a device capable of imitating “ head movements – such as nods – of a person during a FaceTime session “, explains Gurman. The device would also be able to fixate on a particular person within a group, providing a unique and enhanced chat experience. Used in meetings or at school, for example, this product could make sense, at least in the universe that Apple has been imagining for several months, particularly since the release of its VR headset, very oriented towards professional environments.
A screen that follows you all day
The firm does not intend to stop there, and is working on “ a mobile robot capable of following users home ”, according to Mark Gurman’s sources. The firm could reuse the experience acquired with its officially abandoned electric car project to allow the device to move on its own and identify the inhabitants of the house.
Moreover, there has already been a transfer of gray matter between the teams working on automobiles and those working on robotics. What’s more, Gurman specifies that Apple has published a job offer to complete the latter, thus demonstrating the firm’s new interest in this area. We are therefore not facing an April Fool’s joke that arrived a little late.
Does this mean that we will be able to buy an “iRobot” in the more or less near future? If, on the one hand, this trademark is already registered and has nothing to do with Apple, it is also possible that this work will lead to nothing. The company will have to think about the benefits of such a product, both for itself and for its current and future customers. It’s about finding the next segment to occupy, and Tim Cook’s company is only following in the footsteps of Samsung and its little robot Ballie, which has not yet seen the light of day.
Source : Bloomberg
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