Apple is at last prepared to reveal its new smart home strategy, aiming to fill a significant gap in its ecosystem. There are also fresh details about the company's Mac and iPad event scheduled for late October, plus the latest on Apple's effort to showcase the iPhone Duo in retail stores.

Shares of Apple jumped 1.23% on Monday.

Even though Apple Inc. possesses every ingredient needed for success in the smart home — billions of iPhones, smart speakers, TV devices, and an ecosystem appealing to both consumers and accessory makers — the company has somehow never managed to conquer the market.

Its first serious effort arrived in 2014 with the launch of HomeKit, a software framework built into the iOS operating system. The concept was to give makers of door locks, home automation equipment, security cameras, and other connected appliances a platform for developing products that could work together and be controlled by Apple devices.

In 2016, Apple rolled out its Home app for the iPhone, providing users a central place to manage their compatible accessories. But neither HomeKit nor the Home app ever truly took off. Developing third-party accessories that supported Apple's platform and satisfied its strict requirements was expensive and complicated.

Apple offered little hardware of its own to ignite the ecosystem, and its biggest effort — the HomePod smart speaker — never became a mainstream hit. The Siri digital assistant, meanwhile, wasn't dependable or capable enough to serve as the connective tissue binding everything together. The outcome was a fundamental problem: Apple never gave people a compelling reason to fully commit to HomeKit.

Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google took a different path. They saturated the market with their own security cameras, doorbells, Echo and Nest speakers, smart displays, and other devices, backed by more capable voice assistants. They also collaborated more aggressively with accessory makers, helping their respective ecosystems expand to include tens of thousands of third-party products.

Many were cheaper, more accessible, and easier to set up than the devices offered within Apple's walled garden. Rather than building HomeKit into a thriving environment with its own hardware at the center, a compelling software experience, and a flourishing community of outside developers — the same formula that made the iPhone, iPad, and Mac successful — Apple largely stopped after providing the underlying framework.

It also did little to promote compatible accessories or build the kind of marketing machine that could turn HomeKit into a household name. In other words, Apple spent the better part of a decade surrendering the smart home to its competitors.

None of this imposed much of a financial toll at the time, giving Apple little incentive to change direction. If the company's inability to compete in the home wasn't stopping people from buying iPhones, Macs, and iPads, why devote the time, money, and resources needed to fix the problem? But Apple is increasingly no longer in that position. The rise of artificial intelligence has clearly put its entire ecosystem at risk.

If a rival produces a single breakout AI product, that could persuade consumers to look beyond Apple's universe. And if someone falls in love with a new device from Amazon, Google, or OpenAI's forthcoming hardware lineup, defecting becomes far easier if the customer's home isn't already tied to Apple technology.

That's what makes Apple's second attempt to crack the smart home market so important. With its new products set to be unveiled Tuesday, Oct. 13, the company isn't simply supplying the underlying software and hoping someone else builds the hardware. It's offering a more comprehensive strategy, a ready-made ecosystem, and a full lineup of devices designed to work together.

The centerpiece is a new smart home hub called the HomeView. Equipped with a display and an A18 chip, the product essentially serves as the Siri command center for an Apple-powered household. Complementing it are two other devices: an updated HomePod mini with an S10 chip that extends voice control, music playback, and other functionality throughout the house (though the HomeView is said to offer better sound quality), and a new Apple TV set-top box with a standard A19 chip that brings the experience to the living room.

The HomeView comes in two versions: a countertop model with a metal speaker base and a wall-mounted version with a flat, square base that sits against the wall beneath the display. The countertop offering will come in four colors: space gray, silver, starlight, and pink, while the wall-mounted version will be limited to space gray and silver.

Apple has also tested two features for the new Apple TV, its first update in years: built-in microphones that would let users shout Siri commands at the set-top box without needing to speak into the remote or a paired HomePod, and a refreshed remote with a speaker to make it easier to find between couch cushions. Beyond the new chip to power Siri AI, the HomePod mini's main upgrade is a refreshed lineup of colors: pink, white, green, blue, and midnight.

As for the HomeView name, the use of "view" reflects how the device is meant to be used: as a display that people look at and control primarily with their voice. Though the screen supports touch input, a name like HomePad would suggest an iPad-like experience centered on direct interaction. The HomeView name first appeared in a trademark filing by a shell company, a discovery reported Friday by MacRumors.

The new HomePod mini and Apple TV are slated to ship to customers and arrive in stores on Oct. 30, I'm told. The HomeView, at least as of now, will follow around mid-November, meaning it'll arrive about a month after its unveiling.

Unlike the iPhone, the HomeView isn't designed for a wide variety of apps. The device will support a limited selection of Apple applications, with no App Store for downloading additional software, I'm told. Instead, the company is betting on an array of third-party accessories that connect to the HomeView and can be controlled through Siri, the Home app, and other Apple devices.

Crucially, Apple isn't leaving the rest of the ecosystem's development to chance. Through an unusual partnership with LG Electronics Inc., the company helped design and engineer a smart doorbell, deadbolt lock, thermostat and temperature sensor, as well as indoor and outdoor security cameras and a floodlight camera. Apple is also working with Schneider Electric SE on energy-related devices for the European market.

Together, the products amount to a smart home starter kit, covering virtually everything most consumers would need to outfit a connected house. The company is calling this the "Apple Home Collection." Rather than waiting years for third-party manufacturers to fill in the gaps, Apple has helped create an entire system from the outset, though I'm told the LG products won't ship until later this year at the earliest.

The LG arrangement also addresses another weakness of the original HomeKit strategy: cost. Apple gets to influence the features, functionality, and overall experience of the so-called second-party accessories, ensuring they work properly with its own hardware and software. But LG will handle manufacturing and product support, while shouldering much of the financial burden.

That means the accessories can reach consumers at far lower prices than if Apple had designed them entirely in-house, manufactured them through its own supply chain, and sought the 40%-to-50% gross margins it typically enjoys on hardware. By letting LG do much of the heavy lifting, Apple can offer a more affordable lineup without sacrificing control over the experience.

Two other developments make this strategy possible now: Siri AI and advances in smart home protocols. Both help address shortcomings that undermined Apple's original effort.

It's taken years to get Siri ready for this. Apple has been trying to launch its new home devices since late 2024 (unsurprisingly, the original HomeView trademark filing was made in September of that year), but the rollout was repeatedly held up by delays to the revamped assistant. Launching attractive new hardware powered by the same unreliable Siri would have been a recipe for disaster.

While Siri AI is nowhere near as capable as ChatGPT, it finally delivers on much of the promise Apple made when it introduced the original service in 2011: an assistant that can understand what users want and actually carry out their requests. Meanwhile, the Matter and Thread standards have helped address the compatibility and connectivity problems that plagued HomeKit. Apple's new products can work with a broader universe of existing accessories, rather than forcing consumers to start from scratch.

For Apple, success in the home doesn't necessarily mean overtaking Amazon or Google, or turning doorbells and thermostats into major new revenue generators. That will be impossible, at least in the next several years. It's about making the home a meaningful part of its offerings, giving existing iPhone customers a reason to buy more Apple products, and making it harder for them to leave.

If the company can persuade millions of households to adopt its new HomeView, speakers, and accessories, it will have closed one of the biggest remaining gaps in its product lineup. More importantly, it will have ensured that the next generation of AI-powered devices doesn't give customers a reason to abandon Apple for a competitor that already controls their homes.

Apple gears up for monumental Mac and iPad launch event. This moment has been a long time coming. In early 2023, I first reported that Apple was gearing up to — finally — enter the touch-screen laptop market with a revamped MacBook Pro featuring both a touch display and OLED screen technology. At the time, Apple was targeting a late-2025 release, but priorities shifted and the supply chain took longer than expected to develop. Only now is the machine ready to go.

The Macs are also getting an iPhone-like Dynamic Island and an updated version of macOS Golden Gate that’s designed to better support touch input — not unlike the iPhone Duo’s iOS refresh for that new form factor. The computers will be significantly lighter as well, though not noticeably thinner.

The new 14-inch and 16-inch high-end laptops, code-named K114 and K116, will be the centerpiece of Apple’s next major product introduction. That event is being planned for on or around Tuesday, Oct. 27, as I reported last week.

Apple has considered pairing the online launch with an in-person experience in Los Angeles for “creators,” similar to its approach for this coming week’s smart home unveiling. That event will feature an online video alongside an in-person media presentation in New York City. But we’ll see where Apple ultimately lands on the Mac event location, as it’s not locked in.

Apple will use the same showcase to tout several other products, including a 14-inch MacBook Pro and iMac that retain their current designs but move to M6 processors. An OLED iPad mini is also on the docket, and I’m hearing it will be considerably more expensive than today’s $599 model. My guess is something closer to $799. In addition to the new screen, expect the A20 Pro chip, a relocated FaceTime camera and a revamped speaker system.

This should be Apple’s final launch of the year, with the company turning its attention in early 2027 to the new MacBook Air, MacBook Neo, iPhone Air, iPhone 18, iPhone 18e, entry-level iPad, iPad Air and iPad Pro.