We use the Google Home Mini quite a bit. Set timers, control lights in the house, ask it questions, and play music. The sound is nothing great but great for background music while working, cleaning, cooking, etc. It is great and easily the best smart speaker.
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Apple Cuts HomePod Orders After Sales Prove to Be Lackluster
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Yawn. I’m sure someone else’s has said it here, but this kind of report comes out about new products ALL... THE... TIME.
Apple cuts back on production, no big deal. It’s a product that they’ve been selling for a few months. Actual sales, not anecdotes or data-mining guesses, will be buried in Apple’s accessories numbers.
Maybe HomePod isn’t successful, who knows. The real question is why do people get so giddy about that? It’s weird to be so emotionally invested in a company, guys.
Apple cuts back on production, no big deal. It’s a product that they’ve been selling for a few months. Actual sales, not anecdotes or data-mining guesses, will be buried in Apple’s accessories numbers.
Maybe HomePod isn’t successful, who knows. The real question is why do people get so giddy about that? It’s weird to be so emotionally invested in a company, guys.
It shouldn't be a shock HP isn't selling well. As simple as speakers are, it's not an easy product for customers to really understand and Apple's store set up does a non-existent job of educating people why they need this in their life -- and for $350, eventually $700 if you want stereo.
But even to informed consumers HP is really only attractive to the most ardent buy-everything-anything Apple fans. HP's version of Siri is incomplete, no home sharing for Apple fans that don't want Apple Music or any other streaming service, no working with other streaming services, no connectivity other than AirPlay. It's as limited and niche as a speaker can get.
What IS surprising to me is that TC, the wizard of supply chain management, didn't realize any of this -- that HP, as above, would be a slow haul to popularization and not an overnight success. I'd define that attitude but it would trigger too many here. Sycophants will blow the wrong projections off but TC is usually
But even to informed consumers HP is really only attractive to the most ardent buy-everything-anything Apple fans. HP's version of Siri is incomplete, no home sharing for Apple fans that don't want Apple Music or any other streaming service, no working with other streaming services, no connectivity other than AirPlay. It's as limited and niche as a speaker can get.
What IS surprising to me is that TC, the wizard of supply chain management, didn't realize any of this -- that HP, as above, would be a slow haul to popularization and not an overnight success. I'd define that attitude but it would trigger too many here. Sycophants will blow the wrong projections off but TC is usually
I bought one on release day and love the thing. It is expensive. I am holding out for a price drop. Then I will purchase two more. Honestly once Airplay2 releases and you can pair two of these I think it will sound amazing with ATV and DirecTV NOW.
Apple used to be known for their product integration and working well with others. Current Apple products do neither. Hopefully, this is a wake up call for Apple and they'll start releasing new products after the key features, like Airplay 2, are ready. With High Sierra AFPS was half baked. With HomePod its that it does not work with anything except Apple.
Its not really over price, people keep comparing it to the Sonos One. This not valid, at a hardware level it much closer to Sonos :3 or :5.
Perhaps if Apple released HomePod in Canada that would help the numbers (Canadians are high-adopters of technology).
Siri is simply useless. For me, at least.
Apple had an exciting vision and a lead above all the other possible competitors, and they blew it by not developing their Siri software system well enough and fast enough. It is now around 7 years since they announced Siri and I find it little improved and not any more capable.
Again, quoting Jobs, Apple is primarily a SOFTWARE COMPANY. If Apple can't make great software, they shouldn't build premium-priced hardware.
On our Macs, Siri should be able to do any initial function you choose, and you should be able to teach it what you want to do, etc. It would be good to have a preparatory assistant on the Mac (or iPhone), but it is little more than a tinker-toy addition. Why'd I want that in a speaker???
Apple had an exciting vision and a lead above all the other possible competitors, and they blew it by not developing their Siri software system well enough and fast enough. It is now around 7 years since they announced Siri and I find it little improved and not any more capable.
Again, quoting Jobs, Apple is primarily a SOFTWARE COMPANY. If Apple can't make great software, they shouldn't build premium-priced hardware.
On our Macs, Siri should be able to do any initial function you choose, and you should be able to teach it what you want to do, etc. It would be good to have a preparatory assistant on the Mac (or iPhone), but it is little more than a tinker-toy addition. Why'd I want that in a speaker???
I agree with most people here, the price is just too high. I think it should have been priced at $149, $199 max. I would have bought at that price, but just think $349 is not worth it.
It takes courage to release a product almost no one want while other products : mini, monitors, routers, mac pro are either cut or ignored.
These products are not bought by teenagers spending their parents money. Therefore, these products do not meet Apple's desired customer demographics.
The elephant in the room is Siri and the need for a restart in development. Wonder if there is internal debate about fixing Siri quickly as possible, or simply start a new team to redevelop her while the current version still operates.
Is their data supplied by Apple? No it is not not so no it is not factual.
If they are not from Apple they are not facts. Tell me, do th we comanies get the sales figures from every single outlet for one Aplle product globally and then report them? I doubt they do. Ergo they are not facts and cannot be used to make claims that Apple this or that are the best selling globally.
What if I told you that even fewer people want those other products you mentioned?It takes courage to release a product almost no one want while other products : mini, monitors, routers, mac pro are either cut or ignored.
Apples Mac sales figures are moot because they are so low overall, and speaking of Macs, people do not like the MacBook Pro or the lack of a Mac Pro. They have a very long way to go there..
The iPhone X is a sales disaster, profits only prove it’s a profiteering device first and foremost and is HUGLY OVERPRICED, Cook has failed in sales terms, he has utterly misjudged the market and seems obsessed with profiteering, at least Jobs wasn’t so obsessed with that.
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Apple's HomePod hasn't ended up selling as well as the company was hoping, leading it to cut orders with suppliers, reports Bloomberg.
In late March, nearly two months after the HomePod first became available for purchase, Apple reportedly lowered its sales forecasts and dropped some orders with Inventec, the company responsible for manufacturing the HomePod. HomePod inventory in retail locations is said to be "piling up" with some stores selling "fewer than 10 HomePods a day."
Early analyst estimates based on strong pre-orders and initial sales figures suggested the HomePod would sell well and capture a solid portion of the smart speaker market, but Apple hasn't managed to maintain sales momentum.Apple charges $349 for the HomePod, making the device more expensive than competing smart speakers from Amazon and other companies. Apple put a lot of effort into promoting the HomePod's superior sound quality, but its high price tag, its lack of connectivity with non-Apple devices, and its inability to work natively with music services other than Apple Music have likely hurt its sales.
As Bloomberg points out, the HomePod's February launch was delayed from an initial promised December launch, causing Apple to miss out on key holiday sales.
HomePod also continues to lack promised features like stereo pairing to pair two HomePods together and AirPlay 2 support for controlling the music on multiple HomePods located in different rooms of the house. There are hints of this functionality in iOS 11.4, so these options could be coming soon, but HomePod owners and prospective buyers are likely disappointed with the months-long wait for basic features.
Apple isn't likely planning to give up on the HomePod despite its lackluster sales because it's part of an audio accessory lineup that includes the AirPods and the upcoming rumored high-end over-ear headphones.
Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster in February said he expects sales to pick up later in the year. He predicts Apple will sell a total of 7 million HomePods in 2018, with that number set to grow to 10.9 million in 2019.
Article Link: Apple Cuts HomePod Orders After Sales Prove to Be Lackluster
Of course lack luster, it doesn’t do much yet. We bought several knowing the features aren’t there yet but that they will be in a hopefully soon future update.
People want Apple’s alternative to Echo. That requires a lot of improvements to Siri, Apple Home, etc. so far now they are marketing it as an alternative to Sonos.
Siri on iPhone is limited compared to google and on HomePod it’s even more drastically limited. Once Site improves and they offer necessary features like support for multiple people, brevity mode, AirPlay 2, adding HomePod to Home app automations, multiple speaker mode, intercom mode, and the other features Amazon and Google are offering think it will be a hit. For non techies who believe in the future there would be no reason to buy over Alexa or Google only over Sonos in general.
So I’m hopeful, but if they attempt to only do yearly software updates then they just won’t be able to keep up and won’t ever take off.
Yeah, but the question is, should Apple be doing much more than it used to? The old Apple seemed more deliberate and released products that provided solutions based on existing technology. The new Apple seems to be throwing sh*t against the wall to see what sticks. That's not to say they haven't released good new products, I just question how well they are managing their limited resources (cue the person who says OMG they have 300 billion dollars!!!oneone).
It would seem to be like Apple should stop releasing to MANY products and concentrate on improving their software experience and combine that with the release of new products that no other company could produce.
I used to think this also, but how many supply chain problems has Apple had recently. They can't get things ready in time, and when they do, they run out.
I think Cook is too enamored with his politics and celebrity, focused on too many interviews and living the high life to actually understand what is happening to Apple. If he does understand, then he does not have the gravitas to hold people accountable.
When Jobs hired high profile people, they looked up to him, when Cook hires high profile people, they look down at him. I think his total focus is about celebrity.
Jobs attitude seem to be, "do the right things and you'll become famous", Cook's seems to be, "act famous and you'll do the right thing."
This is a perfect example of how people are misreading this product. It is NOT Siri in a box. It’s not an Echo, it’s not google home. It is an amazing speaker with voice control. I know this is hard to communicate in this hellscape of **** boxes talking to you, but that’s what it is.
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how about not being able to use it as a speaker? If I buy a speaker I want to use it for any sound source I have like every other speaker I can buy.
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It is a speaker for Apple products and Apple products alone, hence why it fails. Its audience doesn't extend beyond those in the Apple ecosystem and even then its expensive for what it can provide in that
Against my better judgement, my wife brought an Amazon Echo ($99) into our Apple ecosystem. She also bought Echo Dots ($49) for the kids. We already have Amazon Prime so the music sub was only $7.99.
I was actually surprised at the sound quality for the size and price. They use them for mostly background music anyways. I am more amazed at how easy and quick it is to play music and actually it's pretty fun to try to stump Alexa with obscure music requests which doesn't happen much.
I was curious about the HomePod but at those prices, I think I'll pass. Really starting to lose faith in Apple products, especially on the software side. Between my households multiple, iPhone's, iPad's, ATV's and Mac's, I feel like I am troubleshooting more than ever because things never seem to "just work" anymore.
I was actually surprised at the sound quality for the size and price. They use them for mostly background music anyways. I am more amazed at how easy and quick it is to play music and actually it's pretty fun to try to stump Alexa with obscure music requests which doesn't happen much.
I was curious about the HomePod but at those prices, I think I'll pass. Really starting to lose faith in Apple products, especially on the software side. Between my households multiple, iPhone's, iPad's, ATV's and Mac's, I feel like I am troubleshooting more than ever because things never seem to "just work" anymore.
It's really not the price! These smart speakers fall into 3 categories:
It makes sense that Apple would come into the top tier and then maybe dip a toe into the mid tier later on. Whilst the top tier will be the smallest (cheaper things are always more popular) it is further complicated in the following ways which all reduce the size of that already small top-tier group
Thus Apple has targeted a niche of a niche market. There's nothing wrong with the hardware; I fully believe it is one of the best sounding speakers out there, but the software and integration has let it down massively. To be honest, adding Bluetooth connectivity, an Android setup app and support for at least one other streaming service would probably lead to a lot more sales. Improve Siri and it could realise its potential.
- <$50 - Echo Dot and Google Home Mini - for people that want to dip their toe in, are only interested in the assistant and/or don't care about sound quality or have decent speakers already to connect to
- $100-150 - Echo and Google Home - for people that do want some sound quality / volume but don't value higher end audio (or can't justify the cost)
- $300-400 - Google Home Max and HomePod - for people that value audio quality
It makes sense that Apple would come into the top tier and then maybe dip a toe into the mid tier later on. Whilst the top tier will be the smallest (cheaper things are always more popular) it is further complicated in the following ways which all reduce the size of that already small top-tier group
- It is Apple-centric - you need an iPhone/iPad to set it up, Siri only works with Apple Music (or purchased iTunes tracks) - people who use Spotify, Google Music, Amazon Music or have ripped CD collections are left out. Other things can be streamed to it but only via AirPlay - again requiring an Apple device
- Siri sucks - as an assistant, it just isn't up to the standard of Alexa (or Google). As other have said, there's no voice recognition, limited skills and downright bizarre issues like limits on timers.
- People who appreciate good audio will likely already have a decent non-smart speaker for which a better option is likely to be a cheap tier device plugged in to add assistant features.
Thus Apple has targeted a niche of a niche market. There's nothing wrong with the hardware; I fully believe it is one of the best sounding speakers out there, but the software and integration has let it down massively. To be honest, adding Bluetooth connectivity, an Android setup app and support for at least one other streaming service would probably lead to a lot more sales. Improve Siri and it could realise its potential.