Support for Multiple Users via Voice Identification
For a smart speaker that’s supposed to be a central point in the home, Siri is ridiculously loyal to only a single user. Amazon Alexa and Google Home both offer various levels of personalization, while HomePod not only can’t differentiate between who is talking to it, but can’t even connect to more than one family member’s iPhone.
In the short term, Apple could at least allow for multiple iPhones to be identified by name — Check Jesse’s messages or Tell me what’s next on Victoria’s calendar could be valid ways of identifying which to use. However, with all of Apple’s efforts in machine learning — and the fact that the company now boasts Google’s former AI chief as its new Senior VP of the division that includes Siri — it’s guaranteed that the company can figure out how to accurately recognize who is talking to HomePod, such that a request to “Check my messages” can identify who is speaking and call up the information from the appropriate user’s iPhone.
Further, since the HomePod is intended for personal use among families who can (supposedly) trust each other, this doesn’t need to get to the level of promising secure voiceprint analysis. I’m quite okay with secure features like unlocking doors remaining off-limits to simple HomePod voice commands.