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Why Apple is finally making its own smart home devices

Apple’s new smart home lineup promises easier setup, tighter integration, and data privacy. But with steep competition and steeper prices, can Apple convince more people to adopt its vision of the smart home?

苹果全新的智能家居产品系列承诺提供更简便的设置、更紧密的集成以及数据隐私保护。然而，面对激烈的竞争和高昂的价格，苹果能否说服更多人接受其智能家居愿景？

For more than a decade, Apple has told other companies to build smart home devices for its platform. This week, Apple launched its own. The Apple Home Collection is a lineup of cameras, thermostats, sensors, a smart door lock, and a video doorbell, all codeveloped with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric. They arrive alongside HomeView, Apple’s first smart display.

十多年来，苹果一直鼓励其他公司为其平台开发智能家居设备。本周，苹果推出了自己的产品。Apple Home Collection 系列包括摄像头、恒温器、传感器、智能门锁和视频门铃，均与 LG 电子和施耐德电气共同开发。与此同时，苹果还推出了其首款智能显示屏 HomeView。

Even after 12 years of HomeKit, Apple’s smart home ecosystem still felt underdeveloped, especially compared to the competition. Amazon’s and Google’s ecosystems support more products, and both have popular in-house brands: Ring and Nest. Apple had nothing of its own to point customers to as an Apple experience — and now it does.

尽管 HomeKit 已经存在 12 年，但苹果的智能家居生态系统仍显得发展不足，尤其是在与竞争对手相比时。亚马逊和谷歌的生态系统支持更多产品，且都拥有受欢迎的自有品牌：Ring 和 Nest。此前，苹果没有任何自有产品能让客户体验到“苹果式”的智能家居——而现在有了。

Drance says the big reason for this focus on new smart home hardware was the development of the right technologies. The first was Matter, which provided the ecosystem. The second was AI, which brought a more conversational Siri voice assistant. Both were necessary to create a dedicated home device in HomeView. “With the magic of Siri AI, it comes together in a way that we haven’t been able to deliver before,” Drance says. “That’s been a really critical piece of bringing this all together.”

Drance 表示，专注于新智能家居硬件的主要原因是相关技术的成熟。首先是提供了生态系统的 Matter 标准；其次是带来了更具对话能力的 Siri 语音助手的人工智能技术。这两者对于打造 HomeView 这种专用家居设备缺一不可。“借助 Siri AI 的魔力，我们得以实现前所未有的整合，”Drance 说道，“这是将一切串联起来的关键环节。”

The bigger play here is HomeView as a gateway to the smart home for Apple’s users. Buy one for playing music, guided cooking recipes, and checking your calendar, and you might soon want a camera or smart lock to go with it. Drance says they’ve seen that once people try a single smart device and find it easier than they expected, it “unlocks this delightful understanding of what’s possible once you bring these products into the home.”

此举更大的意义在于将 HomeView 作为苹果用户进入智能家居的门户。购买一台设备用于播放音乐、查看烹饪食谱和日程安排，你可能很快就会想要配套的摄像头或智能门锁。Drance 表示，他们观察到，一旦人们尝试使用单一智能设备并发现其比预期更简单，就会“开启对将这些产品引入家中后所能实现功能的愉悦认知”。

Until now, Apple Home has been a bit like a buffet: You can pick from any brand that supports HomeKit or Matter and hope it all goes together. The Home Collection is more like the chef’s choice, a short list of dishes Apple promises they will pair well. Drance says that’s what some customers were asking for. “There is a lot of choice with Matter, and there’s a lot of great products out there,” she says. “But sometimes we do get asked, ‘Hey, what product should I put in the home?’”

在此之前，Apple Home 有点像自助餐：你可以从任何支持 HomeKit 或 Matter 的品牌中挑选，并希望它们能兼容。而 Home Collection 更像是“主厨推荐”，是一份苹果承诺搭配良好的精选清单。Drance 表示，这正是部分客户所要求的。“Matter 提供了很多选择，市面上也有很多优秀的产品，”她说，“但有时我们确实会被问到：‘嘿，我应该在家里放什么产品？’”