The Big Story Next week, Apple is poised to show off their new line of iPhones, but we’ll also be seeing their vision for the future of audio. Just a couple of weeks ago I talked about how voice interfaces had largely failed to pan out as a huge business for big tech companies, so where’s Apple’s opportunity in the field? More than six years after acquiring Beats, Apple is rumored to be preparing the release of their own over-the-ear headphones and perhaps a couple new versions of the HomePod smart speaker. These audio product would join their very popular AirPods line which has been one of the company’s best received releases in recent years. The HomePod was a great speaker but fell short with Siri significantly lagging behind its competitors. And it wasn’t Siri that made the AirPods successful, the wireless headphones simply are much more convenient than any of the products that came before them. All of this to say, how much of a platform play will Apple really be looking for when they launch this new gear? I doubt much attention will be paid to Siri and the machinations of HomeKit, more likely is that the focus of the event will merely be lasered in on audio quality and connectivity while leaving some of the more future-flung opportunities left unsaid. Over-ear headphones leave plenty of room for packing in bells and whistles that AirPods can’t hold due to their size and the HomePod’s advantages in power consumption as a plugged-in device also leave a high ceiling for its ambitions. Apple sells so few products that are just pieces of hardware, they’ve been able to build out a robust first-party experience for Watch even if third-party integrations have fallen short. If Apple similarly finds the voice opportunities limited for a third-party app platform, then they’re likely going to have to invent that future themselves. | 
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