Apple Stops Selling Headphones and Speakers From Third-Party Companies Ahead of Rumored Smaller HomePod and AirPods Studio Launch

[CalMin]

Love my HomePods - although they were either purchased used or when on sale for $199. The standard retail price on them makes no sense.

I'm all in on Apple, but I fear that some long distant future version of iOS will drop support and brick them. I still use audiophile quality loudspeakers purchsed back in the 70's and 80's because the analog tech never obsoletes. I doubt a 20-year old HomePod would even boot, and even if it did, nothing would likely connect to it.

 

[awdodson24]

Prediction: $150 for HomePod Mini... but you get Apple Music free for 3-6 months.

 

[Texas26257]

HomePod is a great device as long as you're not interacting with Siri.

Siri works great for me on HomePod
Do you have one

 

[dwaltwhit]

I have 9 echo devices that I’ve accumulated over time. I’d love to have a homepod IF it would cooperate, but I just can’t hold my breath

 

[now i see it]

-

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Hopefully with two, you will be able to use them as *stereo* speakers for your Mac. I ended up having to move my pair to the Apple TV where I could benefit from the desired functionality.

I find it amazing that people paid $400-$700 for the pleasure of having stereo sound on their TV.

 

[Epoon4]

I've had no problems with Siri via HomePod.

Good for you.

in general public not sure.

 

[Colonel Blimp]

I don’t like it when they do that. There was a lot of annoyance at Amazon when they removed certain Apple products when they came out with their own. This is the same thing.

It’s not quite the same thing.

Space at a physical Apple Store is limited. Space on Amazon’s web site is not (and even in their warehouses, the physical space is massive).

Edit: It’s been pointed out to me that Apple have removed third-party speakers and headphones from the online Apple Store as well (a fact this article points out), so it’s the same thing after all.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Unless you’re setting one up for the 1st time & you could curse it every which way & want to launch it out the nearest window. It’s the most un-Apple like experience I’ve had with any of their products. Each time i tell myself it’ll be different next time & each time I curse it like the first. I’ve done 4 so far & it certainly doesn’t get any better.

i own two of them and they work great.

 

[Realityck]

It’s not quite the same thing.

Space at a physical Apple Store is limited. Space on Amazon’s web site is not (and even in their warehouses, the physical space is massive).

Locally all the stores I walked in have lots of space with product placement. Its not like everything that Apple sells with accessories takes up the whole store. But perhaps you have smaller stores where you are?

 

[McScooby]

i own two of them and they work great.

Working then isn’t the problem setting them up was. No way to get your password from iCloud IIRC.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

By pulling the other products off the shelf it looks like they don't think it can compete. I know it's "their shops, their rules" but it doesn't exert confidence to me (and doesn't give consumers more choice).

 

[farewelwilliams]

Working then isn’t the problem setting them up was. No way to get your password from iCloud IIRC.

I'm not sure what you're saying.
Setting it up was fine. I waved my iPhone over the HomePod and it was setup automatically.

 

[MrMacintoshIII]

I don’t care for a HomePod Mini, now I will only be satisfied with HomePod 2.

Also, very interested in Airpods Studio, hope it’s ready already!! I’ll buy it for $349 or less no question. Any more than that and I’ll really have to think twice....

 

[McScooby]

I'm not sure what you're saying.
Setting it up was fine. I waved my iPhone over the HomePod and it was setup automatically.

It’s been a while since I’ve done them, but each involved resetting them. I’ll be sure to take note if the new ones are the same.

 

[69Mustang]

Consumers still have choice, just not at the Apple Store. It's a store for Apple's products...why would they sell products that compete with theirs?

You have to realize the lack of logic in your question. They're reportedly removing products that -all together class- they've already been selling... for years. So it kinda throws a wet blanket over your "it's a store for Apple's products claim doesn't it? Apple still sells other brands that directly compete with their products; brick-n-mortar and online. Heck, you can still get a Logitech keyboard cover that competes with Apple's keyboard cover.

No need for half baked excuses. They've made a business decision to give their new products the best chance of success in the most advantageous environment - their own stores. I'd bet this is a temporary exclusivity window.

 

[69Mustang]

It’s not quite the same thing.

Space at a physical Apple Store is limited. Space on Amazon’s web site is not (and even in their warehouses, the physical space is massive).

It ain't about physical space. They removed them from the online store as well. It's just a business decision.

According to checks performed by Bloomberg, Apple removed headphones and speakers from Bose, speakers from Logitech's Ultimate Ears brand, and Sonos speakers from its online Apple Store at the end of September. Searching for these products, which were previously sold online and in retail stores, brings up no results.

 

[insomniac86]

By pulling the other products off the shelf it looks like they don't think it can compete. I know it's "their shops, their rules" but it doesn't exert confidence to me (and doesn't give consumers more choice).

Logic would dictate that if you want "choice" you wouldn't limit yourself to only shopping in an Apple store.
If you want choice you would also shop around. If this affects a customers purchase, it's because the customer isn't too bright.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Apple is removing competing products from it's stores? Don't they have to allow competing products to have prominent floorspace, window advertising, and Apple Genius recommendations all at a 0% fee to the competitor?

The Apple store use to be the place you could find all kinds of Mac accessories products including what Apple sold. No one in the store ever came across with the attitude that only Apple products would be sold there.

Come on Apple why can't we have comparisons to other vendors products in the store?

I'm not going to find Pixel Buds at a Samsung Store. Not going to find HP printers at Dell. It's perfectly fair for Apple to remove products from their own store.

 

[Biglethal69]

The main thing I have noticed in recent Homepod updates is now when I say "Hey Siri, can you play Giant Steps by John Coltrane," instead of beginning at the beginning of track 1, Siri says "Okay, let's hear Giant Steps by John Coltrane," and then there is a ten-second pause and it starts about ten seconds in. When you say "Siri, can you play this track from the start," it no longer begins at the beginning. So ... Apple Music has a bit of regression testing backlog to catch up with, or whatever you call it when they break something that used to work perfectly. Oooo! The other speaker just came in! Fuhhhhhhhhh.

I had the same problem I just reset the HomePod back to factory settings and connected my phone to it again and it fix the problem Hope this helps.

 

[Biglethal69]

I've considered the HomePod a few times. My main hesitation, and why I went with the competition is really not wanting to be locked into the Apple ecosystem. I like Apple, but the way I use products today compared to say 20 years ago, or even longer. is I don't want to be locked into one company's services and products. I also don't want a lot of physical different products around the apartment to do the variety of stuff, and work with the variety of third party products that just one or two third party products can do.

I do use Siri occasionally on my phone, or iPad. Never on the Mac. I've been trying the free trial of Apple Music. I would consider a HomePod for that, but Alexa has an official Apple Music Skill from Apple, and I haven't had any problems integrating that into the rest of the skills and services I use through the Amazon platform. I also have a couple of Google Homes, and I still prefer amazon even over those. So, I'd probably buy the HomePod, play with it for about a week, and then not use it again after that. At least not enough to make the cost worth it, whatever it may be.

We have seven HomePods in our house so then if we have a party you can play through all HomePods all HomePods

I've considered the HomePod a few times. My main hesitation, and why I went with the competition is really not wanting to be locked into the Apple ecosystem. I like Apple, but the way I use products today compared to say 20 years ago, or even longer. is I don't want to be locked into one company's services and products. I also don't want a lot of physical different products around the apartment to do the variety of stuff, and work with the variety of third party products that just one or two third party products can do.

I do use Siri occasionally on my phone, or iPad. Never on the Mac. I've been trying the free trial of Apple Music. I would consider a HomePod for that, but Alexa has an official Apple Music Skill from Apple, and I haven't had any problems integrating that into the rest of the skills and services I use through the Amazon platform. I also have a couple of Google Homes, and I still prefer amazon even over those. So, I'd probably buy the HomePod, play with it for about a week, and then not use it again after that. At least not enough to make the cost worth it, whatever it may be.

we have seven HomePods in our house and we used them to play all at the same time for music as we walk through or connect them up via Apple TV and have the sound coming out like a home theatre but you can use Spotify with the HomePod and not just Apple Music Hope this helps.

 

[ColBatGuano]

I've found Siri very inconsistent when trying to play streamed radio services. It never quite gets the names of the radio stations right, forcing me to say their names in weird ways.

 

[Tech198]

so why did Apple buy Bose?

 

[Biglethal69]

Unless you’re setting one up for the 1st time & you could curse it every which way & want to launch it out the nearest window. It’s the most un-Apple like experience I’ve had with any of their products. Each time i tell myself it’ll be different next time & each time I curse it like the first. I’ve done 4 so far & it certainly doesn’t get any better.

That’s what Apple support is for if you’re having problems you just give me a quick call and I’ll help you fix it they’re not hard to set up if you read the instructions or you can YouTube how to set up your HomePod I got seven of them and I don’t have any problems hooked up to TVs and also throughout the house. Happy to help if you need it.
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Love my HomePods - although they were either purchased used or when on sale for $199. The standard retail price on them makes no sense.

I'm all in on Apple, but I fear that some long distant future version of iOS will drop support and brick them. I still use audiophile quality loudspeakers purchsed back in the 70's and 80's because the analog tech never obsoletes. I doubt a 20-year old HomePod would even boot, and even if it did, nothing would likely connect to it.

Retail price makes no sense in Australia paid $499 bought seven of them though still paying them off but love having the sound going throughout the house.

 

[1madman1]

As long as the Homepods are restricted to streaming only they're pretty useless from my perspective. Absolutely need a line input.