If I’m in an Apple Store, I have two modes: A) touch everything, time-killing mode, meaning I’ll be at the big tables poking some iPads, or B) find-the-dongle-fast mode, meaning I’ll be in the weird “Other” section looking stressed out. Apple is reportedly making changes to the no man’s land section of the store where my dongles live, and it’s apparently because the company needs to introduce the world to its new line of HomePod products.
This is yet another rumor from Bloomberg’s rumor man Mark Gurman, who informs me that the section or sections in question—typically the outer edge along the far walls—are called Avenues. iPhones are center stage, and would never be relegated to the Avenues. Beats headphones and Apple TVs are on the Avenues, as are the weird, third-party products—historically things like car vent mounts for iPhones and limited edition Play-Doh sets, although the formal “Avenues” label apparently only applies to newer stores.
Gurman says large scale changes are happening in the Avenues, and the shift signals the arrival of long-rumored Siri-powered HomePod products. “B-but, HomePod products are already on the Avenues,” I hear you saying. Yes, but the new Avenues are supposedly going to feature a home hub with a display, which deserves special consideration.
The rumored hub in question is expected to run a mobile-style OS on a 7-inch screen, and will interface with your smart appliances and other IoT doohickeys like your doorbell camera. It may also have custom interactions with different members of the household triggered by facial recognition, if you’re into that sort of thing.
According to Gurman, “Today’s store layouts aren’t particularly well suited to demonstrating such a product.” So if you’re going into the Apple Store to buy a dongle or some Play-Doh—or even if you’re there to drop major coin on a MacBook Pro—the new home hub products on display in the Avenues zone will, presumably, grab your attention. Apple will want to present them in the form of an interactive and introductory marketing experience. After all, if you don’t know what something even is, how can you want to buy it?
