Apple’s smart home launch is unfashionably late

TL;DR: After years of delays, Apple’s long-rumored smart home hub is almost move-in ready. The device is an example of the company’s sometimes sluggish entry into new product categories—something newly minted CEO John Ternus is reportedly trying to fix with a leaner, flatter org.

What happened: The smart home hub, codenamed the very catchy “J490,” will be a roughly 6-inch display that can live on your countertop or be mounted on your wall, according to a new Bloomberg report.

The stationary screen can control all your other smart home gear (like thermostats and door locks) and can also make calls and play music, among other things. A major feature is that it recognizes each person in the house by face or voice and pulls up their own calendar, messages, and apps. Basically, it’s Brady Bunch-approved (though Bloomberg says the face recognition is less reliable than the iPhone’s Face ID). There’s also a guest mode that hides your personal info when neighbors come over.

The hub was supposed to arrive in 2024 alongside a revamped Siri, but its launch was pushed back as the voice assistant’s 2.0 update also faced repeated delays. With a better Siri rolling out this month, J490 is expected to be announced on October 13.

The bigger picture: This much-awaited launch is just one example of an issue that Ternus apparently wants to fix: Apple not moving fast enough. (Besides internal delays, Google and Amazon pretty much have the smart home market locked.) And the pressure to speed up is mounting as Apple faces the perception that it’s lagging in AI, while also dealing with higher component costs and slowing revenue growth in services, which includes subscriptions like iCloud+ and Music.

The Terning point: In order to release new products more often, Apple’s new head honcho wants a leaner company that’s more focused on engineering. He also wants it to get more experimental again.

Step one of that redesign, apparently: fewer managers. Ternus is reportedly weighing whether to shrink some middle-management layers, per Bloomberg, and the company has already cut roles in hardware engineering in recent weeks. These dismissals follow a string of layoffs in other departments, including Siri and Vision Pro, and more could come later this year.

Bottom line: If the smart home hub is a smash hit, Ternus gets credit for something Apple cooked up before he got the top job. If it flops, he has an even stronger case for being leaner and moving faster. —WK