Yawn. You should stay away from dinner parties.
Homepod is simply terrible compared to Google and Amazon's products.
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Apple Drops HomePod Price to $299, Down From $349
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Yawn. You should stay away from dinner parties.
Homepod is simply terrible compared to Google and Amazon's products.
Ok, I see we disagree here. I really don't think the Play:5 is in the same category as the HomePod. But if that's your angle, then more power to you.
It was CAD$449 before, what happen to the exchange rate? Only $50 dollar drop , same as the US? Might as well go to the States to get one when you are visiting.
The fact this is happening means they are finally getting the point that their gaping profit margins for "R&D" just aren't realistic. They aren't subsidizing either, this is just cutting down profits, and I bet there's plenty left.
This is a $199 speaker at best, but I wouldn't pay more than $149. Plus, Alexa's integration with my home automation blows Siri and homekit away. (My Mac just changed "homekit" to "home kit", meaning Apple hasn't even taken the time to put their flagship home automation product into their standard MacOS dictionary. My mac corrects every other product I type in.)
This is a $199 speaker at best, but I wouldn't pay more than $149. Plus, Alexa's integration with my home automation blows Siri and homekit away. (My Mac just changed "homekit" to "home kit", meaning Apple hasn't even taken the time to put their flagship home automation product into their standard MacOS dictionary. My mac corrects every other product I type in.)
It was $450. I’ve been considering getting a second one and that price drop pretty much seals the deal for me.
You’ll never know what it’s really like from reading about it from the critics here who are just parroting what they heard from other critics who also haven’t lived with a HomePod daily. Standing there at the Apple Store asking it questions is never going to give you the experience you get from living day in and day out with an assistant you can talk to in normal language and low voice while walking around the house. The serendipitous discoveries of its capabilities when you intuitively asked it something you never did before and then get a correct answer will make you smile. You can’t judge that in a store. Not even in a review.
$199 puts it the same as a sonos one and the hardware in the homepod is without a doubt superior. $249 retail would be reasonable with sales below that.
Install homebridge and homekit can then control EVERYTHING. I did and all my homekit non supported devices now work. Including all my nest products.
I originally purchased HomePad when Costco had a deal for $249, but even at that price point I could not justify it. With how limited the speaker is, I think $149 should be the price point.
US$299 is exactly CAD$399.
If anything, it was underpriced compared to the US before. They’re now at an exact par.
Too much bass for me. It would be nice to have some from of control, but that's not the apple way.
Nope, just capitalism at it's best.
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No need to. Apple's target users only listen to RAP.
Or it could be most people have established sound systems and simply dont have the need for something that wont integrate with what they have. What is gained with homepod if you already have a home system you use for everything now?
I don't remember what I paid for ours, but it was under $300. Now, almost a year later I cant believe we went so long without such a device.
Agreed that it's an amazing device... and certainly NOT a flop. However, that doesn't mean it's the right product at the right price-point for even the majority of Apple fans. IMO, it's an over-engineered and over-priced solution to a simple problem. The market was asking for SMART speakers... not GREAT speakers. The fact that Apple combined the two is not inherently bad, but their offering is simply not "smart" enough to justify the price in comparison to Amazon's offering.
I don’t agree that it’s a £199 product (Apple think £1=$1). The sound quality is worthy of a higher price tag even if Siri isn’t as capable as Alexa or the google assistant. $149 is in the same ballpark as the echo plus and the HomePod sounds much better.
It depends really. I wouldn’t have paid £319 for the echo/echo plus because despite Alexa being ‘smarter’ than Siri the quality of the echo or even the echo plus doesn’t warrant such a high price tag. Siri is ok, it isn’t terrible, it can do a lot of things well. The HomePod despite not having an assistant as good as the other two can always rely on it’s sound quality.
Sure it is. The VAST majority of people can do everything they need to do with siri that they do on alexa. Hardly anyone goes beyond using it to set timers or ask about the weather.
While it is true alexa can do more, almost no one uses those features. You can look up the data.
Besides, with shortcuts you can do a ton. Which, for the power users that want more from a smart speaker, is fine.
For controlling music, apple music specifically, it's better than any other smart speaker. For texts and calls it's better than anything else. For the basic commands that most people use it's great.
It desperately needs multi user support though.
apple is not doing you a favor by lowering the price
they are not doing this for you or because of you
they are doing this because most likely that specific item or device is not selling the way they expected
maybe they ordered or created a high volume of those devices and they still have a huge inventory sitting some where
so they best they can do is lower the price to see if sales pick up
so this is not a move to help costumers or because apple love you very much
if they still don't sale, they might lower the price even more
also they might be working on a new improved version and they will have to sale their inventory before releasing the new version
because if they release a new updated version then the old one might not sale unless they sell it very cheap
you know those 2 words doesn't go together
apple - cheap
they are not doing this for you or because of you
they are doing this because most likely that specific item or device is not selling the way they expected
maybe they ordered or created a high volume of those devices and they still have a huge inventory sitting some where
so they best they can do is lower the price to see if sales pick up
so this is not a move to help costumers or because apple love you very much
if they still don't sale, they might lower the price even more
also they might be working on a new improved version and they will have to sale their inventory before releasing the new version
because if they release a new updated version then the old one might not sale unless they sell it very cheap
you know those 2 words doesn't go together
apple - cheap
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I think Apple missed out on a lot of sales by not designing and marketing homepods to be used with Apple TV (movies and shows) as well as for music. I have one HomePod that I bought on discount, and I’m curious about the idea of having a second, but I would need an even bigger discount. However, if I knew that homepods were well integrated with Apple TV, I probably would have bought a pair on launch day at full price, as I would get much more use out of them.
Whilst my echos and google home minis do more than my homepods, the only other thing I’d want my HomePod to do is control video playback on my Apple TV. Besides that the HomePod does everything else I need. Yes I can play games on my echo or ask my google home obscure questions, but for day to day things my homepods work very well.
At this price, it's a no brainer purchase for everyone.
HomePod is the best audio system I have ever invested in. I couldn't be more thrilled and delighted with this product.
HomePod is the best audio system I have ever invested in. I couldn't be more thrilled and delighted with this product.
True, but there is profit in even lower-priced devices. Just not as MUCH profit. I can appreciate that Apple wants to focus on high-margin products. Every company does! But... that's just not the reality in today's market. The old adage that "Profit brings competition... and excessive profit brings ruinous competition" is perfect for this scenario.
IMO, unless Apple rethinks their strategy they may win all of the battles but still lose the war.
Either you are incredibly short-sighted or you think Apple will be around forever.
You know that CD collection and stereo you owned? They would last (until they wear out) forever. You know that service (Apple Music) Apple provides? It'll last and take your money until Apple decides "not anymore"/goes bust/sells out/is taken over/etc and leaves you with nothing (despite paying for years). Or a few years down the road Apple will "innovate" something and guess what; you'll have to buy a new HomePod because if you don't your Apple music subscription will be worthless.
But while it lasted "the sound quality is so nice".