- Barclays (LON:BARC) thinks Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) smart home products won’t drive sales but will drive customer loyalty.
- The note from analysts Mark Moskowitz, Daniel Gaide, and Chang Liu says Apple has an advantage over Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) in that Siri is available on more than 700M devices compared to 20M for Echo. The iPhone makes a “natural control panel” for a smart home “due to its user-friendly interface and constant presence with the user.”
- The analysts are skeptical Apple can leverage the smart home usage into material revenue in the near-term because they expect December’s HomePod smart speaker to be “an ancillary offering.”
- On the positive side, the analysts say that customers who do use the iPhone for a connected home won’t want to switch platforms in the future.
- Price target is $146, below the current trading price of about $161 as Barclays expects a soft iPhone 8 launch.
- Apple shares are down 1.18%.
- Previously: Bernstein outlines how Apple rally could continue after launch event (Sept. 5)
- Now read: Apple: It's iPhone Time
Original article