Apple is reportedly working on a new home-security product that will take on Amazon’s Ring and Google’s Nest. The tech giant apparently has been rather late to show interest in a growing product line for space home-security, but in the report, it mentions working on developing a smart lock. This latest expansion of Apple’s product set in the home-device market could be a strategic product meant for cross-selling other gear, including the iPhone and Apple Watch.
More recently, Bloomberg reported that the smart lock would add an extra layer to home technology already available from Apple since its inception. Similar rumors spread last month that Apple was working on an AI wall-mounted tablet with intercom abilities to control house controls. All these reports come in light of the movement of Apple to dig deeper into the smart home market currently monopolized by Amazon and Google.
Not all of their new projects are a sure thing, though: the highly-anticipated car got axed this year alone, and the company plans to offer the iPhone on subscription. A still very promising avenue for Apple-such as it would also represent another way for the technology company to integrate other units into the home security network-comes with the iPhone and Apple Watch.
A possible foray by Apple into the home-security market would put it in competition with Amazon’s Ring, which sells doorbells with built-in cameras and motion sensors. Similarly, Google’s Nest offers a similar array of smart home and security products. But if Apple gets into this business, that could raise new questions about user privacy. Unlike Amazon and Google, which have been criticized for sharing user data with law enforcement, Apple has made a name for itself as being very serious about user privacy. In 2016, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook famously refused a US government request to unlock an iPhone used by a shooter involved in a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.
While Apple’s new home-security device may not be available yet, its growing interest in home automation and security represents a new phase in the company’s efforts to expand its ecosystem. Whether this product sees the light of day or not is still uncertain, but it could open the door for new competition in the smart-home market.
