That's not true. Apple may have driven manufacture costs down, and they are always about giving customers as much value as possible for a fair price.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Drops HomePod Price to $299, Down From $349
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
That's not true. Apple may have driven manufacture costs down, and they are always about giving customers as much value as possible for a fair price.
Luxury non-essential speaker just got a price cut in a crowded market. Whoop ! I think my earth moved...But honestly probably not enough of a drop to make a difference.
"That's Coming" is a major part of the problem. Apple has billions to invest in R&D... but only releases limited-functionality products... then slowly adds new features. I'm willing to wait a bit for features, but at some point the market will move on. Apple desperately needs to pick up the pace of functional innovation and rollout.
One could say the same for Apple products. Or. Any other premium product.
I think this price cut will drive some very robust sales from people still itching to jump in on HomePod at a lower price.
In order for a Trojan Horse to be effective, it needs to get into the city first.
"gateways" are usually priced to grow market presence and saturation. The HomePod is not priced that way and as a result, doesn't have the presence and saturation to be the gateway for anything.
If you want to see "gateway" done right, look to Amazon.
They all do that! Do you not remember alexa and google home at launch? They were worse off than the homepod. I know because I own them.
For basic skills, you are correct. You are possible correct about what 'most' people do with it. I do more... and am constantly looking for ways to expand. IMO this is a chicken-and-egg issue.
We completely agree on the need for multi-user though. Alexa cheerfully recognizes both myself and my wife as different users... and provides different data as needed.
The difference is that Apple makes actual premium products and charges a premium price. Bose pretends like they make a premium product and then charges a premium price. If someone actually wants a premium speaker, then there are better options than Bose.
That's fine. There's always another streaming service. I gave all my CD's to the goodwill. And I no longer have my music collection in digital form. I'm totally happy to stream everything. Just much more convenient. And music isn't that important to me.
Now my movie collection on the other hand.....
Make that:
€349 = €288,43 without 21% VAT
€329 = €271,90 without 21% VAT
In short. Apple only gives you a discount of €16,53 or $18,55.
So Google knows when you're at home, when you go to sleep, when you go to work, if you go to work, where you go to work, what temperature you prefer in your own home. And this is just a little piece of information that is part of a bigger picture you're gladly giving them for free. But as long as people do not value their own privacy, or even making fun of it, they can do whatever they want to do.
You are correct. I'm referring to Apple's overall approach across all product lines, and stand behind my statement that Apple need to pick up the pace.
Consider your example. Amazon rolls out new capabilities to the Alexa environment on a weekly basis. Apple? 3-4 times a year. Their entire model is geared toward a single set of major improvements with minor updates every year. That approach doesn't compete well again a correctly implemented agile approach.
Can't argue that!
I've never setup multi user on alexa or google home as I have no need. However with homepod and accessing texts and making calls I very much need multi user. I suspect we'll see it this year.
Price down to C$399 (from C$449 last year); not quite the same as the US$50 drop but hey, I'd take it.
In the big scheme of things though, the total price is not a huge issue given it's something I use every day, for at least a couple hours a day. Not including tax, it's costed me $0.50/hour of use on average so far (days owned x average hours per day used)
In the big scheme of things though, the total price is not a huge issue given it's something I use every day, for at least a couple hours a day. Not including tax, it's costed me $0.50/hour of use on average so far (days owned x average hours per day used)
Yes, and so does Apple. The difference is what those companies DO with the data.
Sure, I have a lot more trust in Apple... and that's one big reason I stick with them. However, your phone carrier already knows everywhere you go. Privacy to that level is long done and won't come back.
I have ripped my entire CD collection and I had thousands of my own purchased mp3s. The reason why I don’t want CDs is because they take up too much physical space. The same reason why I don’t like buying Blu rays anymore. I hadn’t used my stereo for years because I found it cumbersome to manually select a CD and then put it into the the CD player. Even if Apple goes bust I still have my own music collection which is backed up in multiple places and can be played on whatever device I choose to have.
Just seems funny you came to that "Eureka!" moment after "On purchasing my first HomePod" because what you describe has nothing to do with purchasing a HomePod.
It wasn’t a Eureka moment. It just gave me the push I needed to get rid of some of the clutter in my house.
I love mine! As with any Apple Product I’m waiting on it’s evolution. I feel like Apple definitely should’ve purchased SONOS to boost its Home automation/entertainment sector instead of building it alone, as they purchased BEATS for their desire to integrate the headphone market.
Have you gotten that to work? Not sure if I’m doing something wrong. What exactly are Siri’s capabilities in this regard?
But also besides Siri control, there’s an issue of HomePods sounding too quiet when playing movies, and an issue of having to manually re-connect the Apple TV and homepods after another device has connected to the homepods.
Hopefully these are all software challenges that can be fixed with updates.
Also homepods need some level of EQ control.
Oh I knew that argument was coming, lol. But I'm sure you get the point weather its Bose, Homepod, Klipsch, etc etc.....they are all better than the $10 tin cans sold at Wal-Mart.
$299 is still too high and I love my HomePod. I got a great deal on one and had some gift cards to Target, so it was far more manageable. I think $249 is the sweet spot for something this good, but I doubt it'll ever hit that price in an Apple Store.