Apple is very good at first impressions. The MacBook Air emerging from the manila envelope; the iPhone in Steve Jobs’ pocket; the first Macintosh saying “Hello.” Apple knows instinctively how to communicate in an instant what a product stands for, and why you should be excited about it. Which makes it all the more mystifying that senior management decided not to hold a live-streamed event to hype up the HomeView and other new home products last week.
If you ask me, in fact, Apple did a decent hype job even without the benefit of a full-dress keynote presentation. Not on the HomePod mini 2 and new Apple TV–the former is virtually an auto-buy and the latter an auto-ignore at that price–but on the HomeView. A simple press release and a few animations on the website have ensured that I really, really want one. Even though the rational part of my brain keeps pointing out that I don’t need one even slightly.
I covered this ground ahead of the launch, in a column where I said the main question would be, “What is it for?” I hoped that the launch would see Apple succeed in explaining the purpose of its latest foray into the smart home, or rather how that purpose is relevant to a mainstream audience. Maybe a full event would have given the company more space to explore the broader societal changes which it thinks will make the HomeView relevant to the average U.S. homeowner, but I suspect the unavoidable truth is that this simply isn’t a product with broad appeal.
What can you do with a HomeView? You can monitor and control a smart home, of course, but I suspect that Apple knows this is a niche concern; the clue is how far down the press release you have to go before you reach any mention of smart lights, locks, and thermostats (the 17th paragraph, by my count). In the future it’s plausible that we will all have HomeKit-compatible smart homes, but for now most people don’t. And those who do tend to control them with their phones, while using a HomePod or Apple TV as the hub.
While Apple waits for the world to catch up with the smart-home revolution–a process which will be accelerated by the launch of the HomeView, but still needs time–it has to fall back on its other functions. You can FaceTime and read recipes, talk to Siri AI, or play music with onscreen lyrics. You can use it as electronic photo frame, or an alarm clock. With the exception of superior audio you’re essentially getting an iPad which is locked in one place, has a smaller screen, and can’t install third-party apps.
The HomeView is not an iPhone, the sort of chameleonic device that will take over the world by being relevant and useful to virtually everyone. It’s not even an iPad, less portable and caught in the middle ground between phone and laptop, but nevertheless deeply versatile. Unlike those two products the HomeView is a specialist: a product capable of delivering one specific experience for a handful of purposes. And in that sense it’s closer to the first iteration of the Apple Watch or even, I’m sorry to say, the Vision Pro. It’s a luxury; a want-to-have rather than a must-have.
The HomeView’s saving grace is that at $299 it’s relatively affordable for a luxury. That’s significantly cheaper than the cheapest iPad, a product which customers have historically been willing to buy for non-essential use. (Although I suspect they were a lot more willing when it was closer to the HomeView’s price earlier this year.) It’s significantly cheaper than an Apple Watch Series 12, and not much more expensive than an Apple Watch SE.
You can scarcely call the HomeView a bargain or an impulse purchase, but this is a price point where customers are willing to be persuaded. And when it’s a completely new Apple product, and you can throw in the hype factor of that seductive first impression, you can bet it will sell just fine.
Foundry
Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too.
HomeView quickly won a place in Britta O’Boyle’s heart—and her home.
HomeView might look weird, but Apple was right to break the rectangular mold.
The new HomePod mini 2 is a bigger upgrade than it looks.
Pre-ordered the new Apple TV 4K? Here are 5 reasons you should cancel ASAP.
The new Siri Remote’s best new feature won’t work without a very new iPhone.
Apple Home Collection is an expensive way to build your smart home.
Apple just made Felipe Esposito’s decision to buy an iPhone Duo much easier.
No, Meta’s Muse will not run on your Mac.
We investigate how the new Apple Watch sensors affect battery life.
Apple held its “Welcome Home” event last week. On the latest episode of the Macworld Podcast, we recap Apple’s announcements.
You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app, or our own site.
Safari is getting ready for Apple’s first touchscreen MacBook.
Is Siri AI coming to your big HomePod? Maybe but probably not.
Are you buying an Apple HomeView? Roman Loyola thinks an old iPad would do the same job just as well. For more short videos, follow us on TikTok and Instagram.
And with that, we’re done for this week’s Apple Breakfast. If you’d like to get regular roundups, sign up for our newsletters, including our new email from The Macalope–an irreverent, humorous take on the latest news and rumors from a half-man, half-mythical Mac beast. You can also follow us on Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, or X for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.
