Nooooo I freaking love my HomePod and just got the mini and it really doesn’t compare in sound quality. Was really considering getting a second HomePod for stereo sound but now not so sure, unless Best Buy or someone else does a major sale.
Yeah, they do. It's just called shreaded wheat.
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Whenever Apple stops supporting HomePod, it’s done. You just have a useless speaker laying around
as someone else pointed out, just recently Apple started referring to this in some places as HomePod (2018), and they are only discontinuing them a couple weeks before a big event that might have a new Apple TV.
Well that was fast
Apple has discontinued the standard HomePod to focus exclusively on the HomePod mini, reports TechCrunch.
That’s why I don’t think an auxiliary line input is a stupid idea.
HomePod mini is not expensive. It's the same price as Amazon Echo (4th Generation) and Google Nest Audio.Inevitable move. Nobody wants to spend like 300 bucks on an assistant as dumb as Siri, and there are better speakers for the price if that's all you want without any of the proprietary crap that comes along with Homepod.
The Mini is a far more enticing product but it's still mad expensive and it will get discontinued eventually until they finally figure out that Siri's the problem
I hope that this is the beginning of a broader trend of price reductions across the entire Apple lineup. So far, the HomePod and iMac Pro have been discontinued, and the Apple Silicon Mac Pro is being reimagined as well, hopefully with a lower price tag to go along with it. For many years, App.e has used high prices to distinguish products form the competition, but this no longer makes sense, and is actually hurting sales. If Apple wants to stay relevant, they will have to increase market share, and a big way to do this is to make products more affordable without sacrificing features or technology. Apple has grown up into a mainstream tech company, like it or not, and they will have to increase sales in order to stay relevant.
Apple has discontinued the standard HomePod to focus exclusively on the HomePod mini, reports TechCrunch. First introduced four years ago, Apple's larger HomePod has never sold well because of its high price tag.
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Apple hoped that the HomePod's high-quality sound would give it an edge over competing products, but sales of the HomePod have always been lackluster with so many more affordable options on the market. Apple has been selling the HomePod for $299, but it was originally priced at $350. The HomePod mini is available for $99.
The HomePod mini offers all of the features of the HomePod in a smaller and less expensive package. Many reviews praised the HomePod mini for its sound quality relative to its size, and while it won't quite match the sound available from the HomePod, it features the same Siri integration, Apple Music support, and HomeKit controls.
In a statement, Apple said that the HomePod will continue to be available while supplies last through the Apple Online Store and Apple retail stores.On Thursday, many tech sites noticed that the full-sized space gray HomePod was out of stock in the United States, but it was believed to be just a stock shortage. As it turns out, it was because Apple no longer plans to sell the HomePod.
The space gray HomePod can likely be purchased from third-party retailers, but it is no longer available from Apple, while the HomePod in white continues to be available for purchase as of right now.
Article Link: Apple Discontinues Full-Sized HomePod to Focus on HomePod Mini
Your understanding of economics is terrible.People still buy it’s just that more people buy the HomePod Mini.
I seem to be the only person on the planet that likes the Apple TV remote ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This is a great post, and I think you nailed what went wrong with HomePod and what went right with AirPods. Everyone I know has AirPods now. (Literally everyone) Some of them are now talking about and considering the Max ones now because they love their AirPods so much. Will they end up buying them? I don’t know, but at least they’re talking about it. In contrast, I don’t know a single person outside of myself who bought a HomePod. I just talked to my AirPod-wearing girlfriend about it and she didn’t even know what it was, but she can tell you about all the different Google Home and Alexa options.For those disheartened by the discontinuation of the big HomePod, I'm thinking that this is just step one of a wider plan for the HomePod brand as a whole.
Here's my two cents:
For Apple, the HomePod mini serves as a 'reset' of the HomePod brand.
They're probably looking at the lacklustre performance (by Apple standards that is) of the original HomePod, as great as a product it likely was, and realising they made a few mistakes when it came to marketing it. Therefore I reckon HomePod mini serves as a step back and a fresh start.
Let's face it, most consumers just didn't want to spend that amount of money on an Apple smart speaker when, at that time, Apple had never ventured into the smart-speaker market before. Amazon and Google had pipped them to the post with far more accessible products, and Apple most likely hoped their brand power and sound quality would pull them through. Sadly, it doesn't look like it did.
IMO Apple should have released the HomePod mini first, as the 'regular' HomePod, and then the larger HomePod later on (probably marketed as a 'pro' or 'max' model). They most likely realise this now.
Think of it this way:
Let's say, for example, Apple released the AirPods Max in 2016 as opposed to the 'regular' version we got. People would scoff and say there's not a chance in hell they'd pay that much for a pair of bluetooth headphones.
Apple didn't do this, however. As far as AirPods were concerned they were very smart: release the entry level model first, make it great, make people fall in love with it and want more. Then give them more. Give them the Pro, give them the Max, and they'll lap it up because by that time the AirPods brand will have enough momentum going that people won't mind spending over $500 on a pair of headphones. They won't just be any old headphones after all. They'll be 'AirPods' and that matters hell of a lot.
If the HomePod mini really is as big of a hit as they say it is, expect them to release a few more revisions of it, making it more popular as they go along. Then, like the AirPods, expect to see 'Pro' or 'Max' models, effectively filling the void left by the discontinuation of the big HomePod we've had up till now. I reckon these hypothetical 'Pro' models will end up being far more successful then, because they'll have a strong level of customer loyalty with the HomePod mini, and a lot of momentum to push them forward (like with the AirPods).
EDIT: The more I think of this, the more I think of myself as a suitable example to illustrate my point above. I never had an original HomePod - my first HomePod was the mini. I never even entertained the thought of getting a HomePod, and that's despite being deep in the Apple ecosystem for over ten years. The price was just too high for something I wasn't sure I was going to use to it's full potential.
When the HomePod mini was announced, the £99 price tag was just right. It was cheap enough for me to 'dip my toe in' so to speak. Once I got the HomePod mini, I loved it that much that I had every intention of getting the big HomePod - a product I'd previously written off suddenly came into the centre of my radar.
I was waiting for the HomePod to get refreshed first, knowing the original was getting long in the tooth. We know now that's not gonna happen, but if Apple later announce a 'HomePod Pro' or 'Max' I'll be right on it. And none of that would have been the case if not for the mini.
I'm sure the above scenario will be similar for a lot of consumers.
While not perfect, Sonos’ support for their hardware is a hell of a lot better than what Apple has just showed us with the HomePod biggie
Perhaps someday. Until then, I intend to keep posting them behind publicly shared hyperlinks, utterly depriving all passers-by of any avenue to finding and reading them.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying it seems unlikely Apple will make an entry level product. I wish they would too.There was an iMore story about this in 2019.
But since Apple hasn't released a new Apple TV box since 2017, the data is still relevant. And likely even more skewed at this point
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Apple was 2nd to last and likely far in dead last by now with no new hardware. $179+ is too expensive for a set-top box; it was before and especially now when you can Airplay to your TV purchased in the past few years, or $99 4k Roku box (and others out there). And they're a much better streaming service box.
I have never seen anyone use the Apple TV for apps or games in real life. It seems more like a pipe dream plan than reality.
They may "not do the low end," but they need to here. Or go the way of their routers and seemingly now Homepod (which they did for the Homepod which will live on in the Mini).
A sub $50 4k stick and ditch this all-in-one set-top box dream. Maybe a $99 4k box too. it simply isn't working and makes the hardware not worth it for most, as the data shows. The point is to get as many people on their streaming service now with the hardware; not hardware profit from a one-time purchase.
It's also back to that unless you own all Apple products Airplay just isn't the best thing. Stuff like a Chromecast will work with almost any device- laptop, iPhone, Android, Mac, anything.
They are clearly referring to a CPU that typically processes iOS devices. Don't be that person.What’s an ios chip?