Apple Says HomePod is Delayed Until Early 2018

[dampfnudel]

This xmas is predicted to be big in terms of smart speaker sales. Apple are going to lose a lot of potential sales over this delay.

Yeah, some of the new smart speakers, including the new Sonos speakers are pretty compelling as they offer a superior digital assistant, but in Apple's defense, if the HomePod isn't ready yet, what else could they do? Maybe they're trying to improve Siri's integration/performance or something? They'll just have to make up with their fans throughout the year and hopefully by next Christmas, a price reduction may entice those who already purchased a smart speaker to do so again.

 

[ralphdaily]

I’ll get one if I can connect an Amazon device to it for Alexa. No way would I spend this money & be stuck with Siri.

 

[R3k]

Damn. Ill join the crowd that were hoping that'd make it by Christmas.

 

[Corrode]

To lock out competitors.

"Honey, let's buy a Sonos spea... wait, let's wait until Christmas, Apple will have the Homepod."

Exactly. I’m waiting to see what HomePod offers before adding another Sonos speaker. (At least, I was.)

 

[DVNIEL]

Yeah this was supposed to be my Christmas gift to myself. There goes that plan.

 

[macintoshmac]

While it may be enough, but I don't like it one bit that they are powering this with A8. Should have been A10 at least, and now if it is early 2018, should have the latest A11 to ensure good longevity.

 

[SRLMJ23]

And we all know "Early 2018" to Apple is going to be June probably at WWDC (again.)

 

[harkan13]

More waiting.....Take my money already

 

[Aldaris]

Apple has lost this battle before it even enters. I’m sure a small contingent will buy, but this will definitely be a flop (on the Apple scale).

Akin to iPod hi-fi.

 

[BigSky20]

Not sure why Apple under Mr. Cook now feels like they need to announce things that are not close to ready. I thought they did not move product launches/release date unless hell freezes over. They seem to be getting a little sloppy on their stealth like product pipeline.

 

[caesarp]

Exactly. I’m waiting to see what HomePod offers before adding another Sonos speaker. (At least, I was.)

Got the Sonos One. It's awesome. No waiting here.

 

[HMFIC03]

Dang..what about AirPlay 2? Apple has been stovepiping the requirements from the A/V for way too long now..others are going to leave Apple in the dust in wireless multi speaker sound soon. Missing the Christmas shopping season has to hurt bad

 

[coolfactor]

While it may be enough, but I don't like it one bit that they are powering this with A8. Should have been A10 at least, and now if it is early 2018, should have the latest A11 to ensure good longevity.

HomePod does not need that kind of power, or the price attached to current-gen processors. They are easily $200-300 just for the chip.

 

[neutralguy]

Yeah, like they missed the boat on smartphones.

When will people get that Apple doesn’t care about being first. They care about getting it right.

True. Because Apple banks on the fans to lap up everything that they through at them at any point of time.

 

[Wags]

See you in March HomePod. Apple's idea of early has never been early.

Ya. Went to even more of open ended timeframe. Of course every wants product best can be for gen 1 so don’t release until ready. Now though just seems playing consumers and market with such early announcement and now wanting people to skip holiday buying competitors and wait.

 

[ersan191]

Lame Kind of saw this coming with the lack of updates and it being excluded from the holiday gift guide. Was really hoping to pick one up this year.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Too bad. Then I will get it next year.

 

[dampfnudel]

It would have been less expensive to buy SONOS. Apple is too late to the speaker party.

It's possible they tried to, but SONOS said no. I don't think Apple has been successful with every company they approached as some are rather independently minded, fearing the loss of control/being "drowned out" by upper management as a result of the acquisition by a larger company. Some obscure company may have a lot to gain by being acquired by Apple, but a successful company like SONOS which has been on top when it comes to the speaker segment for years, the people there may actually have more to lose. Some people are interested in more than a quick payday.

Their new speakers show their commitment to give Apple a good fight and those already in the SONOS ecosystem will find the superior digital assistant options in the new SONOS speakers compelling compared to what Apple has to offer with Siri. I think Apple's experience with the HomePod will mirror their experience with the Apple TV. More of a slow start, niche kind of thing with competitors offering a better option (like Roku for example). The Apple TV is only now becoming a worthwhile option, years after its debut and I expect HomePod to do much better once Siri matches the competition.

 

[questionmark32]

Not sensitive, but I see a lot of comments in these threads where people seem to be telling other people how to spend their hard earned cash! Which kindof irks me to some degree Apologies for not seeing the funny side of your comment

And you're actually correct - I'm sure my wife will benefit from me having a few extra hundred pounds in my bank account this Christmas!

I understand. I wasn't passing judgement. I'd rather Apple try to perfect the HomePod instead of releasing an unfinished product. Instead of being mad (not you), we can do other things to keep us occupied until the HomePod is ready.

 

[rtr1985]

LOL

 

[esk]

does anybody else think that the homepod is ugly?

 

[Cigsm]

Uh vapor ware is something that never comes out. Fail.

It's one of the worst pieces of vaporware I've seen in a while.

First, it can be made with existing parts—the same ones already in their other shipping products.

Second, vaporware is usually aspirational. This was Apple saying, "We can do the exact same thing as Amazon and Google, but it's going to have really good speakers." Well, there already are Echos and really good speakers out there.

Third, it's a product that doesn't play to their strengths. The heart of one of these "AI" speakers is the assistant, and Siri hasn't had a meaningful upgrade in utility and voice recognition quality in a long time.

Fourth, it (through its firmware) divulged all the secrets that were to unveiled at Apple's last iPhone event, and keeping those secrets are one of Apple's best assets (hence the title of this web-site). Not only is this at this point crappy vaporware, it has so far been a train wreck in terms of impacting how they wanted to launch their other products.

Uh

 

[deanthedev]

True. Because Apple banks on the fans to lap up everything that they through at them at any point of time.

Here we go again. Another asinine comment that Apples success is due to fans, and not the fact they make the best products.

 

[Cigsm]

The only thing that was actually announced and delayed from this list is AirPods.

Things big and small that arguably came later than they should have (and many of which still aren't here)...

• Jet Black iPhone 7 Plus
• AirPods
• eGPU support in High Sierra
• Apple Pay Cash
• Messages in iCloud
• 3D Touch multitasking in iOS 11
• Apple Music over cellular for the LTE Apple Watch
• Apple Watch Series 3 Nike+ and Hermès
• AirPower charging mat
• HomePod
• iMac Pro (probably...)

Apple seems to have a shipping problem these days. It's like they need a year off to catch up.

 

[Glideslope]

It must be hard designing and finding eardrum* speakers.

*as opposed to retina

No, it's related to Face ID Bull****.