Apple Receives FCC Approval for HomePod, Suggesting a Launch Could Come Soon

[ackmondual]

Doesn't matter if this fails. Apple has SO MUCH money in the bank that they can absorb a few major losses.

I'm curious about the logistics of selling this thing. The point of this is the audio quality but where can you hear before you buy? Apple stores are too crowded an noisy most of the time, so will they create an isolated room within the store where you can listen to it? Do you just have to buy on blind faith?

When Apple last forayed in to the audio realm with the HiFi the thing didn't sound any better than competitors which had significantly lower price points and had the glaring flaw of poising your iPod atop the speaker as an easy target for injury while simultaneously eliminating the portability of the thing. I recall in particular that Altec Lansing had a speaker that held the iPod securely, ran on batteries or power and was ½ the cost.

I hope that lesson is still in the forefront of those who created this product and the lessons applied liberally.

Would that help much? All that would confirm is they work well somewhere. You'd still need to be able to recreate that with your own dwelling.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

I agree.

The potential for well-executed beamforming and dynamic self-equalization is enormous and will drive great sound. The fact that it's tied into Apple's eco-system is icing.

Have a feeling this will be a big hit and in great demand, similar to AirPods.

"Others will chastise the HomePod and consider it a failure on a tech forum (Which is likely those negatively commenting who will never own one or have experience with it),"

Yeah. Expected. People who come here to rag day after day can be safely ignored.

Combined with the soon-to-be-announced iSub(tm), this would probably make a decent audio system; but at that point, the price would no doubt be fairly prohibitive to all but the Trust-Funded in our midst...
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Personally, I don't know if homepod would compete with real audiophile speakers.

At a measly $350, I wouldn't expect it to be competition for $20,000 Martin Logans, or even $2000 Magnepans. But for a bedroom or home-office speaker, that has the added advantage of Siri and HomeKit support, I think this will find its way into many people's homes.
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In order to do that, it needs to blow away the sound of any Alexa enabled speaker out there. And Siri needs to be as good or better than Alexa. I'm not currently using Alexa, so I don't know if Siri will be better any time soon. But Siri leaves A LOT to be desired so far. And we'll all have to wait in regards to sound quality on the HomePod. Based on what I know today, there are better options out there, unless you MUST have Homekit and Apple Music. Long story short, I'm waiting to decide. But I'm going to have a hard time rationalizing $350 for this in my own use case.

From the earlier article on MR, the sound apparently IS pretty phenomenal.

You have to remember: This started out as a "side project" by a couple of engineers at Apple, and this was several years before any of the "Alexa-type" devices were even thought of. So, the emphasis has ALWAYS been on the sound-quality aspect of the device. The "Siri" assistant stuff all came about much later; but I am sure that's what finally convinced upper management to dust-off the project and make it a "real" Product.

So, I'm not at all worried about it blowing-away the competition in the sound-department. It's just whether they can uplift Siri enough to catch-up in that regard.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

HomePods don't have any physical audio input as far as I know, so there's no way to link them to your TV.
BIG MISTAKE. Until some company market an Airplay TV..., yea, dream on.

AppleTV. AirPlay. Done.

See? That wasn't hard at all, was it?

Oh, and apparently there are other, non-AppleTV-requiring ways, too:

https://drfone.wondershare.com/airplay/airplay-without-apple-tv.html

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-airplay-receivers-that-are-cheaper-than-apple-tv/


Or, have a Samsung TV from 2012 or later? Here you go!

https://9to5mac.com/2016/05/20/airplay-mirror-mac-samsung-smart-tv/


...or LG...

https://9to5mac.com/2017/10/18/airbeam-tv-lg-tv-airplay-without-apple-tv/

 

[EdT]

AppleTV. AirPlay. Done.

See? That wasn't hard at all, was it?

Name 3rd party component manufacturers that either already can do this or have announced future plans to do so. I’m not saying it’s physically impossible but for whatever reason Apple doesn’t have a lot of outside companies making audio or video add ons for any Apple Line, and a lot of what they do have is because Apple got out of that business themselves. I don’t know if it’s Apple being difficult, other suppliers not wanting to help Apple, or both.

 

[Macaholic868]

I think this is largely the fault of the comparatively shoddy microphones in iPhones and iPads - it’s not really fair to compare something with a 7-microphone far-field array to the speakerphone mic on your phone.

Agreed but if I’m paying north of $1000 for a phone if what you said is true it needs a better quality mic.

 

[RickInHouston]

Both Google & Amazon allow you to upload your music library up to their servers & stream live from there. I've approx 12k tracks loaded up to Google Play Music that I can stream on any PC/Mac/Phone that I log onto Google with, along with any of my Google Home & Home Minis. Amazon is the same with Echo/Echo Dots. In the case of Google Play, you can add the ability to automatically add any new iTunes addition into Google Play Music that works really well too.

With the flexibility that's now available in W10, Google, & other systems, I'm probably going to be exiting the Apple ecosystem as each device reaches its EOL after over a decade as an Apple user. I currently have 2 iMacs, a Macbook Pro (pre-touchbar), a Time Capsule, two ATVs (gen 2) and an iPod Touch. As each dies, I'm going to replace it with a Windows machine (in the case of the laptop/desktop units) or an android/generic device in the case of the TV/mp3player/NAS/streamer. Why? There's nothing that is actually tying me into the Apple eco-system anymore, at least in terms of a unique edge. Streaming music? I have that ability through Google Home/Home Mini/Phone/Chromecasts (4 rooms and on the go for a few dollars more than the cost of a single Homepod). Video? I have Plex and SmartTVs that work smoother than an AppleTV solution (including the ability where with everything turned off I can simply say "Hey Google, play The Good Place on the Living Room TV & it'll turn on all the required equipment & start streaming the latest unwatched episode, all without me having to set anything up). Home Automation? Apple are still late to the party & are offering nothing above and beyond what is available from others for less. Flexibility to user demands/ishes? Apple have always been lacking in this area, but over the last decade, they have become even more proscriptive about things. I want my phone/pc/video/audio tp work the way *i* find best, not the way that J Ive has "decided" is the best way to work. I like to choose things like live widgets on the home screen of a phone that can show the current calendar entries, or play/rewind/skip track/chapters on music/audiobooks/podcasts without having to leave the homescreen because that's what works best FOR ME. We're all individuals who work best in our own ways. Apple has made it increasingly harder over the years to work/live that way, and that is why I and others are going to leave the Apple eco-system. It'll not be a killer blow, but I think over the next 10 years, Apple will learn the hard way that folks like the ability to shape their world to suit them, rather than letting the latest tech shape the way they live to suit the technical limitations.

Thanks for letting my know this. I've had my uploaded Google music on a different account from my Google Home devices. I'm correcting this, now. Can't wait to give it a try tonight!

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

The echo is doing really well. We are using it a lot in Australia for smart home use (lights, doors, air cons etc.). I think Apple will struggle to take the smart speaker market over a $50 echo dot.

Good luck with having your every word spied upon, and your every preference for, well, everything, cataloged.

 

[ersan191]

Agreed but if I’m paying north of $1000 for a phone if what you said is true it needs a better quality mic.

It's not physically possible to put a far field microphone array into a phone, and even if it were it would be a waste of space for something that the device isn't intended for...

 

[sigomez]

Anyone think this comes out today?

 

[Soccertess]

At a measly $350, I wouldn't expect it to be competition for $20,000 Martin Logans, or even $2000 Magnepans. But for a bedroom or home-office speaker, that has the added advantage of Siri and HomeKit support, I think this will find its way into many people's homes.
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Fr

sorry, you lost me when you said siri. You are better off having nothing than Siri. Well, you can still say please google so that isn't too bad.

Homekit was a disappointment, biggest mistake was they didn't intergrate Zwave. Homepod will be a success for the dwindling apple fan boys and the well off who don't really know tech, but want to show off their status.

I don't see techies and people outside of North America using it.

 

[OzyOly]

Good luck with having your every word spied upon, and your every preference for, well, everything, cataloged.

Isn’t that what all smart speakers do?
It does get worse with that new amazon device with a camera.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

sorry, you lost me when you said siri. You are better off having nothing than Siri. Well, you can still say please google so that isn't too bad.

Homekit was a disappointment, biggest mistake was they didn't intergrate Zwave. Homepod will be a success for the dwindling apple fan boys and the well off who don't really know tech, but want to show off their status.

I don't see techies and people outside of North America using it.

If you want HomeKit compatibility for non HomeKit devices, look no farther than HomeBridge.

https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge

And now that there is a single-click Installer for HomeBridge for Raspberry Pi on the iOS App Store, there is absolutely no excuse.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/homebridge-for-raspberrypi/id1123183713?mt=8
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Isn’t that what all smart speakers do?
It does get worse with that new amazon device with a camera.

The HomePod doesn't actually start "listening" until you utter the trigger-phrase "Hey Siri". That is decoded on-board; specifically so it DOESN'T send every sound to Apple. Only commands after the trigger-phrase.

 

[PickUrPoison]

<snip>
The HomePod doesn't actually start "listening" until you utter the trigger-phrase "Hey Siri". That is decoded on-board; specifically so it DOESN'T send every sound to Apple. Only commands after the trigger-phrase.

I think of the Amazon and Google devices as smart microphones, not smart speakers. If they had no speaker and only responded through your smartphone, their functionality would be remarkably similar to their current products.

The HomePod I would however call a smart speaker. If you could only talk to it using your iPhone, it’s functionality wouldn’t change that markedly. Not that the far-field microphones aren’t a great feature, but I think my basic point is clear.