Apple Cuts HomePod Orders After Sales Prove to Be Lackluster

[DevNull0]

1) Make it do more than act as a tie in for Apple Music. I love music but have zero interest in ever having a streaming service since my music library is pretty static at this point in my life. Much as I might love a homepod, they've made it useless for people like me.

2) It's a ***HOME***pod speaker; allow it to do more than act a single-user siri gateway; let me hook a pair them up to my TV instead of a soundbar; I've dropped more than $700 on a soundbar int he past and most likely will again in the not too distant future. Let me use to watch movies and play games on my big-screen TV.

3) Think of it as a ***HOME***pod music player. Most people don't live alone, their owner/guest model is broken by design. Why should a ***HOME***pod have limited functionality for the rest of the family when the primary user takes their iPhone out. A ***HOME***pod should not be tied in to a mobile device that one user is meant to keep with them.

4) Don't cripple siri to promote your DOA homekit. I have a lot of heavily customized IoT hardware in my home. Controlling it though google assistant or alexa is very easy using IFTTT. But Apple won't allow their assistant to control anything outside a very tiny pool of crappy devices.

Tl;dr -- great piece of engineering and could have been an amazing product. 100% broken by Apple's asinine desire to limit what you can do with it to having a single user use paid Apple services with it.

 

[Edsel]

HomePod's omnidirectional fidelity is fantastic, I'm purchasing a second one for that reason. Siri, however, is beyond awful - it needs a lot of work. Music is my focus. For me, Siri is simply an "accessory" to the HomePod.

 

[naturalstar]

I honestly forgot this thing was on the market until I received a survey in my email yesterday about smart speakers. I chuckled because the HomePod was there. After I completed it, I put in the survey review section, “I thought this survey was about smart speakers, yet the HomePod was included as an option.” Not sure if they will understand my comment, but I was serious.

Price to value never computed for me. I won’t bother until Siri gets more education.

 

[nvmls]

Another penny-pinching Cook product for those who left their brain in the fish tank (yea those of you who still think Siri is great, this is for you guys, consider getting two to compensate the lack of sales, also buy stocks remember!).

Coming next Apple will move away altogether from pro computers and unveil de iDiaper with assID notch (R&D shows potential on the market), they'll also state they are very committed to -insert product/market-.

 

[Tozovac]

Thank you. To modify an old political quote. "It's about the software stupid."

I've beaten this "today's iOS and OSX and war on hardware ports/interfaces" drum too much across too many threads but it really has dampened my enthusiasm to invest any more than I have to into the Apple hardware ecosystem, including considering HomePods, as I'm currently looking into options for wireless JBL speakers to create a stereo soundfield instead of 1 solitary speaker. Apple was really onto something when they were designing minimalist iPods & computers in cases that opened up to present magical-looking and magical-working software, but now that the software is as minimalist as the hardware, and with hardware now going further in the minimalist rabbit hole wrong direction by all the removing of ports and buttons and moving trackpads that add to the tactile interactive feel and which make the hardware flexible & convenient to use, they're veering far away from my interest zone and wallet.

 

[kingtj]

I agree, and I give Apple credit where it's due for selling as many of these as they have.

My concern, however, is that a lot of those sales might have just gone to the Apple fanboy types who buy everything new that the company announces, as well as to people who held out for one instead of buying an Alexa or Google Echo product.

I think most others are looking at the product, rather unimpressed (especially for the price) and saying, "No thanks... I'll pass."

Our family already owns a couple pairs of Bluetooth speakers (Harmon Kardon Onyx and UE Boom), that supported pairing two together to play in stereo for a long time now. The fact the HomePod didn't have that officially working when it launched was a big negative.

And what about all the people invested in Sonos? I can't imagine many would rip all of that out to replace with a HomePod. (Especially when Sonos offers such things as a product with a power amplifier built in, so you can attach any home stereo wired speakers to it you wish.)

I know this is just a v1.0 product from Apple, and the company has a LONG history of not really getting it right on revision A.... but I don't see this one really going anywhere beyond a niche product offering to add to the portfolio? It's obvious that Siri is less capable than the other personal assistants out there. Probably good enough for the things you need on a cellphone, but not so great as the "all listening ear" in a home to take any and all incoming requests or queries. And even strictly for music listening? It's focused on people with Apple Music subscriptions (required so Siri can play anything you ask it to play for you). That, in itself, isn't of interest to a whole lot of people out there who opted to use a different music service.

Coming in and grabbing 10% of the smart speaker market in just the first couple weeks, with a premium priced product is a big accomplishment. Not enough credit is being given here. Can you imagine if Ferrari came out with a car that captured 10% of the total market?

Far better to have to cut orders than have too few to meet demand. It's a smart move by a company that understands supply chain better than most.

 

[762999]

Hmm strange. Everyone I know has a HomePod. I’ve must have purchased about 40 of them as gifts as well. I own 3 of them because the sound quality is crazy good. I love taking FaceTime audio calls on it as well.

can I be your friend!

 

[Lowhangers]

For those of you touting Alexa, give this a read. It's clear what direction Amazon is going in, and it's the exact opposite of Apple's approach to privacy on the HomePod:

Shhh … Alexa might be listening
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2018/apr/11/shhh-alexa-might-be-listening

"Should you whisper around your Amazon Echo, lest it whisper back to you?

That’s the future suggested by a patent recently filed by the company, which examined the possibility of eavesdropping on conversations held around its voice-activated devices in order to better suggest products or services to users.

The idea seems to be to turn Alexa, the company’s virtual assistant, from a dutiful aide under the user’s command to one with a more proactive attitude. For instance, the patent suggests: “If the user mentions how much the user would like to go to a restaurant while on the phone, a recommendation might be sent while the user is still engaged in the conversation that enables the user to make a reservation at the restaurant.”

Other proposals include making a note if you mention you like skiing, for instance, or hate to draw, and using those to update the company’s profile of you as a customer."

 

[RagingBrosGaming]

You must be joking. And if not, then everyone you know owns one because you bought them all.

Not exactly, I bought them for my employees not my friends. I just took a vote last night and and out of my 5424 friends, 4950 have HomePods!

 

[cardfan]

yep, worst product of 2018. I couldn't take mine back for a refund fast enough.

 

[marshallld]

It takes courage to release a product almost no one want while other products : mini, monitors, routers, mac pro are either cut or ignored.

You buy what I want sell you, your wants are of no concern ~ modern Apple motto

 

[762999]

What if I told you that even fewer people want those other products you mentioned?

Tim is that you? I'm sure there are real demands for these products. I know plenty of non-fanatic that just want everything that Apple because it simply just works. The cinema displays were popular for the pro scene. I'm done for the moment they don't have any affordable computer that's worth what they are charging for. Good thing my rmbp 2013 is still solid after all these years.

 

[doelcm82]

This sales were to fanboys who were going to get the device regardless. Thats why sales dropped off so fast. Everyone else who felt fishy about the product waited and still haven't found reason to buy one yet.

So... plenty of opportunity for growth!

 

[cardfan]

It's really not the price! These smart speakers fall into 3 categories:

1. <$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
2. $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)
3. $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.

To be honest, all they have to do is integrate heavily with apple tv and that's good enough for me. Apple's strength is integration with other apple products but this product with its halfbaked software doesn't quite do the trick.

 

[762999]

These products are not bought by teenagers spending their parents money. Therefore, these products do not meet Apple's desired customer demographics.

I don't disagree.. I had a hard time in the Montreal apple store to even find a computer. They are hidden in the far back. When you enter you even wonder if they sell any, which also gives me a reason to stop buying computers from them. My rmbp still works fine, so I don't need anything at the current time.

 

[nylonsteel]

Never even considered getting one especially after all the lackluster reviews

 

[kemal]

Ten a day seems like a lot to me considering how weak the functionality is.

Standard requested features needed:
-free three month trial of Apple Music and
-support other music streaming services and
-support as Bluetooth speaker
-XOR lower price to $200

 

[RogerWilco]

This coming a day after the Apple fan club on MR panned Ikea's Eneby speaker as cheap and lacking. Unlike the HomePod Eneby will actually sell in volume.

 

[LordVic]

Perhaps if Apple released HomePod in Canada that would help the numbers (Canadians are high-adopters of technology).

we are, but we're also not the biggest percentage of Apple adopters due to the pricing. You'll see them in some heavy rich areas of major cities like Toronto, But Apple's current pricing, especially in Canada has tempered Apple's recent success here.

Would you be willing to spend $450CAD on this speaker? that's the cheapest we'll likely find it once it gets here. And that's a hard sell.

 

[RickInHouston]

You can if you have an Apple TV.

That's his point.

 

[rmoliv]

I would have bought it if they hadn’t made it available only in 4 countries...

 

[twinlight]

I wonder what this thing will cost in Norway. Siri isnt working to well in Norway and my Apple TV still won’t let me use english Siri.

I do want one but IF it was available here I would still wait for WWDC to see what improvements it will get before actually buying it.

 

[AnthonyHarris]

I said much the same thing a while back. I have some satellite speakers with a subwoofer. That paired with Alexa, while not ALWAYS doing what she is told, works 99% of the time and sounds amazing when I don't want to stream with airplay via our Denon AV receiver (which is paired with home cinema speakers that 'actually' fill the room with sound.)

Makes sense that people are adding smart capability to their existing dumb speakers by adding Amazon Echo Dot. They're not going to replace their better sounding speakers with even dumber little Homepod speaker without 3.5mm jack nor stereo capability.

 

[UKPoliticsGuy]

When Siri is dumb as a box of rocks compared to Alexa who would buy this load of crap!

 

[Endorphine88]

Coming in and grabbing 10% of the smart speaker market in just the first couple weeks, with a premium priced product is a big accomplishment. Not enough credit is being given here. Can you imagine if Ferrari came out with a car that captured 10% of the total market?

Far better to have to cut orders than have too few to meet demand. It's a smart move by a company that understands supply chain better than most.

I agree. This is also not newsworthy in my opinion. Apple had to prepare for high demand so what happened with the AirPods didn't happen again. They over-delivered on stock and had to cut numbers. It's a logical move any company would make.
And for god's sakes, stop comparing the HomePod to Alexa. Apple said from the get-go -> focus is on sound, not on ordering ubers and pizzas. I also don't have any issues with Siri - she does everything I need her to do and I find her voice more pleasant than that of Alexa.