I have no idea if Apple’s new smart home device, called HomeView, is any good as a product. It looks nice, and it’s surprisingly small. I’ll try to reserve judgment until I’m able to try it out. That said, the company’s three and a half minute marketing video doesn’t exactly make the case that it’s something you should want in your home.
That video, called “Designed for Life at Home,” follows a family of five through a chaotic morning as they prepare breakfast, look for missing belongings, argue about the thermostat, and generally make each other’s lives more complicated. It’s supposed to demonstrate how HomeView makes family life easier. Instead, it’s generated a surprising amount of criticism.
It’s not just that the video depicts a chaotic scene that isn’t representative of what most people experience on a regular basis. The bigger question is whether the HomeView offers anything that makes it worth adding another screen to their life—especially in the kitchen.
As I watched, there were a few things that stood out from a brand perspective. In fact, I’d go so far as to say these seven things are absurd enough that it’s hard to understand why Apple let them represent their newest product.
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1. Apparently, nobody in this family has an iPhone
Let’s be honest, the most ridiculous thing about the video is that it shows a room full of people, and not a single one has an iPhone. That’s weird, because with maybe the exception of the dad looking at a recipe, the ad doesn’t show a single thing that isn’t better using an iPhone.
Apple has spent almost two decades making the iPhone the center of our digital lives. We use it to communicate, find information, manage our schedules, and control our homes. Apple has been very successful. I have four teenagers, and there is never a time when they are all together that there aren’t a half dozen iPhones in the room. Yet Apple has somehow created a fictional household where everyone gathers around a tiny screen on the kitchen counter to do things they could accomplish by reaching into their pockets.
2. No one wants to read messages on a display in the kitchen
At one point, the family’s teenage daughter retrieves information from Messages using HomeView, even though her brother is standing nearby. I have teenagers. I cannot imagine any scenario where one of them would voluntarily display a personal conversation on a screen sitting in the middle of our kitchen.