Apart from Sonos who have been doing it for years earlier and with far better sound quality, product range, and compatibility you mean?
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 Remains 'Largely Absent' in U.S. Smart Speaker Market
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Apart from Sonos who have been doing it for years earlier and with far better sound quality, product range, and compatibility you mean?
The price is the only reason. Amazon sells at a near loss to gain market share as well as realizing that it gets people further into their ecosystem where their real profits lie.
For a simple assistant yes the 20-30 dollar option is great. However it sounds like a tin can piece of garbage so if you actually want to listen to music with some degree of quality…. while you cook for example, a 99 dollar HomePod mini is miles and miles ahead. It’s all about balance. If Siri wasnt so meh , HomePods would be selling overall much better.
Its hard to compete in a market flooded with devices that can be found for less than $50 that can do a better job at most tasks. I have several Echo devices in my home, a few are connected to better sounding stereo systems because they have a 3.5 jack unlike the HomePod. They can also act as a bluetooth speaker and they can transmit to a bluetooth speaker. Apple came through the gate late with an expensive product with a lackluster Siri and now they are trying to make up for it wiht the HomePod mini and it still isnt working as well as Amazons devices. I am not saying the HomePod is a bad device and I am sure that its worth the price but Apple can't expect to dominate the market with one $99 product.
Also after the disaster and immediate cancellation of iPod HiFi I had zero expectation that Apple would commit to long term support of their sound hardware.
With the disaster and immediate cancellation of HomePod, Apple perfectly met those expectations.
The others got to market a lot quicker and used them as a hook for services they already used. Apple I think is very niche. No one I know would have an Apple pod/speaker, when they are big Amazon users, and many also have Google accounts and would use those devices first.
Might get myself a DAB radio at some point. Not really wanting a smart speaker for anything.
Caveat. I may change my mind if the product does.
Might get myself a DAB radio at some point. Not really wanting a smart speaker for anything.
Caveat. I may change my mind if the product does.
Which is what apples strategy should be. They have a huge untapped market potential if they actually utilized it. Gone are the days where apple entered a market late and then dominated it within a few years. Apple was waaaay too late to this party
When if you're shrewd you can pick up a basic (which I assume makes up most of these numbers) Amazon Echo Dot or Google Home Mini for £10 or even free, is this really a surprise?
Siri doesn’t record you like Alexa and Google does too. Also, Alexa is very easy to hack as well.
I’ll take a dumb Siri over Amazon having my conversations recorded.
Nope. Not at all. The HomePod mini will help, but Amazon owns this market for now.
Your house must be lovely. I don't even own 6 chairs.
Nail on the head about trying to dictate to the market. Also, it's a little weird to me that they were pushing the whole sound quality angle while not providing features that people who really care about sound quality like (like an aux port). It was created in a weird middle ground and priced too high for what it was.
Disagree. For me Apple has always been about charging a premium for a convenient and quality user experience.
Now Apple is trying to do the exact opposite with the mini. An inexpensive device but garbage quality and works with almost nothing except a few of Apple’s own services. The most Tim product ever.
Sonos is the Apple for sound. The fact that Apple bought Beats over Sonos highlights their pivot to fashion and margins over quality.
I have two, and I'm not getting any more. The one in the bedroom is good for turning the lights off and listening to music while cleaning, and the one in the front hallways is good for turning the lights off as I'm running out the door. That's about all they're good for though.
They're otherwise not loud, not accurate, and my wife can't manage to use it without her watch picking up her voice and the two of them getting confused.
They're otherwise not loud, not accurate, and my wife can't manage to use it without her watch picking up her voice and the two of them getting confused.
I think people would rather spend less to sacrifice sound quality. Though I suppose with iOS 15 bringing Siri to third party devices, that could fill the void. I wonder if — like HomeKit — the cost to have Siri on devices will keep those accessories priced high.
Call me in a year when there’s still no $50 devices that run Siri.
Not surprised at all. After all, all of Amazon's Echo speakers can act as hubs for Alexa-enabled devices. And even the high-end Echo Studio sold for far less than the original HomePod.
Pardon my tone here everyone but if Apple really gives a crap about services, they have to rethink this strategy. Make a tiny, medium and huge smart speaker and sell them at a small loss of break even and include 6 months of Apple Music with every speaker sold. Apple needs people to fill heir entire homes with these things. Bring Siri to every room of the house for $29, $49 and $99 respectively and do a huge marketing push about hand off and airplay 2 and intercom and get one in every single bedroom / living room in the country. People are spending $1500 on iPhones then asking Alexa to play music. It's absurd.
HomePod failed @ $299. It would not have failed at $99. Everyone I know would own 2-3 of them by now.
HomePod failed @ $299. It would not have failed at $99. Everyone I know would own 2-3 of them by now.
Perhaps, but Apple hasn’t been the loss leader in their corporate history. It’s the same story with Android. If Apple was content with fewer profits and more market share they could have maintained a large market share worldwide By producing cheap iPhones.
I use the minis as intercoms. Works ok. SOUND IS PRETTY GOOD.
My Alexa $20 to $50 units (3 of them) are all back in the box…. They sound so bad, and I don’t wAnt third parties listening in.
My Alexa $20 to $50 units (3 of them) are all back in the box…. They sound so bad, and I don’t wAnt third parties listening in.
Yet their speakers have the best sound quality.
Apple remains "largely absent" in the U.S. smart speaker market while Amazon and Google continue to dominate, according to data gathered by Consumer Research Intelligence Partners (CIRP).
Since 2017, Amazon has been the dominant company in the smart speaker market, with over two-thirds of smart speakers in U.S. homes being Amazon devices. Google holds about a one-quarter share of smart speaker devices, while Apple and Facebook have the small remaining share.
Josh Lowitz, CIRP partner and co-founder, said that while the installed base of smart speakers added over 25 million units over the past year, reaching a total of 126 million units, Apple still "failed to make meaningful inroads." According to Lowitz, Apple's original HomePod strategy, "with a single premium-priced model competing against products that included low-priced entry-level devices" struggled to gain a significant share of sales, which has led to other brands growing faster and establishing a grip on consumers.
Last year, Apple discontinued the original HomePod and introduced the HomePod mini, a smaller smart speaker priced at just $99. In spite of the launch of the HomePod mini, CIRP's data shows little change between Apple's market share in 2020 and 2021.
CIRP estimates that over 20 million U.S. households have more than one Amazon Echo device, while about eight million U.S. households have multiple Google Home units, meaning that 43 percent of Amazon Echo owners and 38 percent of Google Home owners have more than one smart speaker. By comparison, only two million households have more than one HomePod.
Apple is rumored to be rethinking its smart home strategy, scrapping an updated model for 2022, and introducing new HomePod models, including one with a screen and a camera for FaceTime calls and one that is combined with an Apple TV.
CIRP's latest data was based on a survey of 500 U.S. owners of Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple HomePod, surveyed from July 1 to July 8, 2021, who owned one of these devices as of June 30, 2021.
Article Link: Apple Remains 'Largely Absent' in U.S. Smart Speaker Market
I keep thinking about Siri's limitations, and how you can opt out of sending recordings to Apple. But even if no one opted in, couldn't they still program Siri to answer more types of questions anyway?
I have a friend who asks Google random questions like "Who is Joey's mom on Friends?" and it would reply with "According to the website blahblahblah.com..." and read the answer. I'm trying to understand, why does it need recordings of people in order to be able to provide an answer like that? Is it not possible to parse the sentence anyway?
I have a friend who asks Google random questions like "Who is Joey's mom on Friends?" and it would reply with "According to the website blahblahblah.com..." and read the answer. I'm trying to understand, why does it need recordings of people in order to be able to provide an answer like that? Is it not possible to parse the sentence anyway?
I think a big selling point of the HomePod mini beyond sound that doesn’t seem to mention a lot is that it’s thread border router so you get different smart home devices and not 100 different bridges for them to work. Which no echo can currently do
I have an echo show, and if I wanted a speaker I would get a Naim smart speaker and use my echo to control it, a more expensive solution for sure but a very good one. I think the big Apple HomePod sounded good but obviously it's not available anymore.
I'm surprised Apple took that move, perhaps too much competition in the market for them? But with the Apple TV being a control hub and more devices being compatible with Apples system, I would have thought they would expand their smart speaker portfolio?
Perhaps if the made a bigger HomePod again and charge 200 for it they may find some more success?
I'm surprised Apple took that move, perhaps too much competition in the market for them? But with the Apple TV being a control hub and more devices being compatible with Apples system, I would have thought they would expand their smart speaker portfolio?
Perhaps if the made a bigger HomePod again and charge 200 for it they may find some more success?
I have an Original HomePod, and two HomePod minis and use them all daily. I use them primarily for music (where their sound excels) and for telling smart lights, etc. to go on and off. Yes, I would like Siri to be more versatile, but it really doesn't affect my liking them. I also have a Google screen, and an Alexa dot, (both were free, which is the only reason I have them), but they are rarely used. (The Google shows a slideshow all day, but only because it has a screen, and isn't doing anything else.)
If I need an answer to a question, I always have my iPhone and Apple Watch with me.
If I need an answer to a question, I always have my iPhone and Apple Watch with me.
This just in. Apple shows little interest in HomeKit or homepod but charges more than the competition. The result is… now act surprised….. customers buy competing products. 😮 oh my gosh!!