That’s why this device has multi-user support: you’re only supposed to have one of them, which everyone uses. The Apple TV also has good multi-user support, because Apple doesn’t expect you to connect one Apple TV per user to your television.
How many people are in the market for that is a good question.
The Apple TV and Homepod mini already support Matter.
An old iPad on a stand on the table in the breakfast nook is conceptually fine as a Matter controller until someone picks it up and leaves with it, or unplugs it and lets it run out of battery.
Apple forbids this kind of use because it defiles the majesty of their garden and its walls (or something), but that's just Apple doing Apple things.
Expectation of usage. An iPad designer assumes it will be taken all around, leave the house, put in a book bag, etc.
While an old iPad being used as an entertainment management surface won’t, that’s not the prime use case intended for iPad.
Apple decided to focus on products whose primary purpose is a stationary device, like a speaker or a TV-attached device. Sure, you can move them place to place, but most won’t.
And the usefulness (or lack thereof) of the functionality can never be tested by real people, because at Apple: Design is everything.
hasn't apple been shipping thread radios in devices for a few years now, with no actual use for them? the only thing blocking iPads from being a home hub for managing matter protocol devices is that apple hasn't turned that feature on.
The only difference I can see is multiuser support of which Siri works just fine for me controlling the matter devices in the house that are on my partners Apple account. I can't justify buying a product just for multi user support and have another bulky device sitting in the house.
Apple would've been better off putting a FaceID camera in a Homepod mini or Homepod to get the same functionality.
At the risk of echoing the infamous Dropbox comment...was that ever really considered a technical challenge?
It's not intended for home users of course, because that could jeopardise sales in families.
https://zedshaw.com/blog/2018-03-25-the-billionaires-vs-bran...
Normal users should accept that if they let their kid play Angry Birds they’re risking an accident with all their other apps getting mucked with, and if they don’t like it they can buy five iPads.
https://support.apple.com/guide/deployment/shared-ipad-overv...
It’s only when you want to let them jump in and out of multiple apps (e.g. pick what game they want to play on their own) that you start having a problem.
(And the not-idiomatic-but-people-do-it-anyway solution for that, from what I’ve seen, is buying one extra iPad, and creating a special whole-family Apple account for it, to effectively serve as a game console for the kids.)
The solution to that is Assistive Access.
It’s more painful to use than it should be, but it absolutely solves this problem.
Though the sheer fact that in 2026 it's driven by Siri who is not a conversationalist AI, but still the same frustrating voice technology from 2011 is confusing they would even bother releasing this.
Sooner or later their lack of innovating themselves and just copying is going to make them what the Blackberry was when iPhone was released.
This is no longer the case. Siri as of iOS 27 is a gemini-based LLM system. It has a chatbot app and everything.
I use and have used chatGPT voice while driving for awhile ... here's a very silly example https://www.instagram.com/p/DecaL9Gx6li/ . Besides that silly example im in school now and give chatGPT all my notes to create interact multiple choice questions i take while driving. Overall love hearing how other people are using chatGPT voice and or any other AI voice conversationalist tech.
I use conversational voice AI while driving and with the new Siri i constantly have to use hey siri to keep the conversation going.
Basically, people use them for photos, kitchen timers, quick recipe lookups, quick questions, and "can a dog eat the thing I just dropped".
Accurate. I ask about the dog eating thing at least once a month. Most recently it was cilantro and tomatoes.
Note amazon has a competitor to this that I tried out, the echo show. It's horrible as it just shovels advertisements at you all the time.
So, like: The light switch in the garage is very inconveniently-located, and it's dark AF in there both at night and when I walk in from a bright sunny day. The lights can be activated by voice and that's pretty nice to have.
They're also good when I want background music that's actually-in-the-background: I've got some very nice audio systems for when I want focus on listening to music, but they are much more successful at being involving than at being being ignored. The kinda-meh-sounding Alexa-type widget on the table over there does a better job for background noise.
I'm not anywhere near 60 yet. I just find that stuff like this is useful.
(Yeah, yeah. I could build or buy voice-controlled speaker-widgets that integrate with Home Assistant in an open-source way, and even use them with a local LLM if I wanted to. I'm disinterested in that kind of effort at this time.)
I think the idea is in the ballpark but the form factor is not ideal. The screen should be much bigger so notes can be left for others - maybe from scribbles rather than voice - and calendars and shopping lists can be seen from across the room.
This looks like someone at Apple took a recent Alexa and said "We should do one of those" instead of something more adventurous.
If not for the need for video conferencing, she'd have been fine with an audio only device.
And finally, when they do have issues and ask you questions: now it's questions about an unfamiliar device you may not own yourself!
Old iPad still seems optimal for this demographic.
Not sure if HomeView is the answer, but some aspects of the video were interesting. eg super-fast user switching with no explicit login; and how it puts Siri forward as the primary UI in a way that the iPad doesn't, even if the iPad technically has the same capabilities.
That they drilled a hole through the kitchen island table top for the power cord was hilarious. Exactly zero people in the real world are going to do that.
Exactly zero people
Maybe companies will lean into making the most of whats possible within the apple ecosystem and leave the rest out
After a couple years of use of trying to use the iPad exactly as you stated here (it's lived 24/7 on my kitchen island, I've realized iPadOS is not that great to use in this way).
I'll be happy to have a "dumbed down" stationary device that serves no purpose but exactly what it's intended for.
That's just me, though; I get why many others may disagree. This is just my experience of actually using it in the way in which I will be replacing it for.
The last base iPad still supported on the current OS must be the 2020 version. There was a blip in the corona years, but since the iPad sales have been declining, so the amount of devices still up to date aren't that many.
I'd have the same concern with this device given Apple haven't committed to longer then usual support.
At least I already got my money's worth from the old iPad and being able to give it a new role on the kitchen bench was a bonus.
As you get older you start to realise half of hot takes are a result of living in a different half of the economy which doesn't quite get things like the suburbs are appealing
It doesn't have to do a lot to be useful. If there are even a couple consistent daily use cases I can see this making sense for some people. Even if just means I don't need to go grab my iPad/iPhone from the couch to set a timer or ask a quick question.
Google's Nest Home is only $99, so that is likely the cheapest version from a big company.
Outside of basically just TV's the economy has decided to completely abandon targeting really much of anything at below median wage incomes.
Apple could most likely replicate the software on an old iPad. But I think this would still be popular because of its form factor.
I suspect the reason for this is that it’s not a mobile device and can afford to have the camera always on.
(Not exactly the same power feed but you know what I mean)
I'm still waiting for the 9.7" iPad Pro that I have to swell up. I got it used, but AFAICT the battery is 10 years old at this point. It has definitely been plugged in ~24/7 since I got it.
Sometimes, I notice that has decided it's time to discharge itself somewhat and then recharge again. I assume this is for BMS calibration or battery health or both; I just let it do its thing and it's been fine.
Meanwhile: A disused Samsung Galaxy S7's battery swelled up enough to split the case open while I had it sitting on a shelf, switched off. It was about 6 years old at that point, and I was careful to leave it at about a 60% SoC when I put it on that shelf.
I haven't had the battery well up in phone that sees daily use -- yet. I won't be surprised if/when it happens.
So this is two birds for me
you'd be surprised how much of a barrier this is for average consumer
With this thing ... it remains to be seen what happens in practice.
You've just realized they're going to obsolete all those products.
Lots of parents want to manage it
This is a new device like a home phone.
Kids can securely call who they are allowed to from a fixed location, not wandering off with a device.
This looks like a modern Google Home Screen, likely matching the market when it seems obvious.
Edit: Typos.
This device screams "we came up with use cases in a conference room committee meeting" not "we're solving one problem everyone has in a new way".
The device looks like an ipad merged with a homepod. It's not definitive, but the idea of mounting an ipad on a homepod does seem to exist in the 3D Printing world [1].
The negative effects of screen time on children's brain develop is being more and more intensely researched, and I suspect an adjustment is underway. Low-fi (LCD screens), etc can make a lot of sense.
[1] https://makerworld.com/en/models/811172-ipad-stand-retro-ima...
That said, at $300 this is a great Christmas gift to some family. Not too expensive, not too suggestive, probably useful, etc.
I'm not sure if this is a kitchen device, maybe an edge of the kitchen device, where a desk or landline cordless phone used to be in some homes.
Apple moving into home is one thing, also people being uncertain about apple releasing new product categories is also not new.
Personally it feels like some of the features in this have been researched with the audience who will buy it (homeowners, parents, kids, etc) which are shown in the imaging as well. This can seem a little off because Apple is usually creating something for everyone and not just some.
The main thing about the screen being on a stand is a child can't be too tempted to walk aroudn with it, or touch it (guided access aside).
While I understand the sentiment, with all of the cloning using AI - it’s far more achievable to now back port an apps behavior to an older iOS version than ever before. I did this very thing for a WiFi fan app that didn’t provide an app which works on an older iOS. So I captured the API calls, grabbed some screen captures and within a few hours had a swift native app that looked and operated well enough on my old iPhone/ipad. Felt good to put some this drawer hardware back into use within the house.
I saw a post here a few weeks ago aout someone publishing a daily "newsletter" for their family of everyone's happenings and going ons.
I believe they were outputting a PDF, and my thought kind of went where yours did.
The PDF is pixels oriented for paper.. or a screen.
One way I see output is a screen is.. a screen, and there's many ways to make the pixels arrange as desired.
The thing I'd kind of still hold off on is this approach isn't for the many, which I believe Apple HomeView is. I could see sending one on a trop with kids, or putting it at family members houses just as a communicator.
Lots of ways to do it again, but it's not about that for most people. There's a reason apple sells so much, they look for creating beginners in the most approachable way possible. It's not the only, best, or exclusive way to do something, but they have an audience they serve.
It’s really out of touch. I don’t see any benefit over any old tablet.