Apple Unveils $349 HomePod Smart Speaker to be Available in December

[44267547]

I didn't even notice until reading other comments that this device isn't even wireless in the sense that it must be plugged in to a wall outlet. $350 for a tethered speaker? Other than HomeKit integration, I really don't get how this is better than using Siri on any other device with a nice wireless speaker. If you have no use for HomeKit or aren't an Apple Music subscriber, it seems even more basic.

To be fair, I also don't own either Amazon or Google's speakers because Siri on my devices seems to suffice for my needs. But I was hoping Apple would bring something different to the table.

I think you will find out, HomePod will likely have features that we are not aware of as of yet until we can have more hands on with it. Also, it will likely continually add updates and features through software patches.

Listed below is more features that were mentioned in another article that HomePod can be capable of.

"Siri will also act as a home assistant and include support for News, Messages, Podcasts, Stocks, Weather, Reminders, alarms, timers, sports and traffic. HomePod will also be a HomeKit hub and let users control lights, blinds, locks, and other accessories by voice, even when users are away from home."

 

[bobob]

There is no competitor for the HomePod. Its number one feature is privacy.

I would never allow an Amazon or Google product to have a continuously open microphone in my home.

How much is your privacy worth?

 

[mva68]

With those "surround" tweeters and beaming capabilities we could do some amazing audio effects.

 

[orthorim]

My guess: This is competing with Bose, not with Amazon.

It all depends on the sound quality.

Apple Hi-Fi was as good or better than any other speaker when it came out, at a similar price point, looking way better.

There's tons of $300+ AirPlay speakers out there, and none of them do anything other than playing music, and they aren't even that good at it. At the Echo price point, unless Amazon is heavily subsidizing it, it's just not going to sound as good.

I mean comparison tests will have to be the judge. Look at Bose speakers... just my guess but with Apple's obsession with music, I think this is going to sound better than Bose, cost the same, and offer whatever SIRI functions. So it'd be a pretty good deal.

 

[kdarling]

As for HomePod, if it sounds as good as Apple claims, it's immediately a much better value than both Echo and Google Home since "AI" is pretty much still a gimmick.

Speakers are a dime a dozen. The whole point of a combined device is the verbal assistance.

But Apple knows they're weak in that part, so they hide behind the speaker instead. It's like lipstick on a pig.

The best part? My home speaker won't be pushing ads on me.

Which device does that? My Echoes don't.

 

[ellsworth]

I guess everyone has their own uses and opinions with these things. For sure, I'm packing up my 3 Sonos Speaker set-up and donating them to Good Will when the HomePods are available to purchase. The #1 problem I have with my Sonos Speakers is having to use the Sonos App to listen to my music, Also, I can't listen to or send any audio from my computer to my Sonos Speakers. When watching movies, videos or even individual audio tracks on my computer, the Sonos is useless. The fact that the HomePod is Airplay 2 compatible is a win-win for me. Nicely done Apple. Just wish you would release them sooner if you're comparing them to Amazon's Echo. Amazon is going to sell a truck load of ECHO products before this thing sees the light of day. Good Luck Apple.

 

[recoil80]

I'm not really interested in Siri at the moment, let's see if it improves with iOS 11 but I seldom use it at the moment and I have plenty of devices at home and even my Watch if I need to talk to my personal assistant.
I'd buy it as a speaker only, since I'm enticed by the ability to adapt to the environment, but it is too expensive. For about $100 I'd buy it instantly

 

[RowellE]

Apple Music only? I can't connect to my iPhone via Bluetooth to play music I bought on iTunes? What the eff?

 

[TimWillz]

Does it have a battery?

 

[576316]

Im not complaining about the dot (thats a fair price), I just look at the full echo and wonder is it really worth the extra money.

The speaker is decent, if you're just listening to radio. But if you want to use it as your main music system, I'd say no. It's doable but you don't have to be an audiophile to realise that the sound quality isn't great.

 

[bpcookson]

I understand the price vs. a Sonos but was still hoping for better. That said, I think most people complaining about this aren't considering the actual experience and what Apple will do with software that might totally blow away the Echo and co. Even ignoring the huge delta in sound quality this will probly be a better experience, especially if they make good on their promise of Siri improvements.

 

[recoil80]

Apple Music only? I can't connect to my iPhone via Bluetooth to play music I bought on iTunes? What the eff?

It is not clear to me whether HomePod supports Airplay or not. On the footnotes they say it can deliver music to multiple speakers via Airplay, but it doesn't say if the HomePod can be used as a simple speaker.

 

[Alasdair_Scott]

Compared with Sonos Play 3 or 5 it’s pretty good value - depends on how well HomePod works in pairs and across multiple units.

But I don’t think price is the issue. They key for me is how extensible Siri becomes - Alexa’s skills are remarkably open and easy to implement. Plus the Echo Dot at $49 a shot means I can have access everywhere in my house.

I’m convinced HomePod will do lots more than initially announced - but to my mind it’s not stillborn at the $349 price point. Good speakers cost money.

 

[kidhack]

The difference is the Sonos let's you choose from many different services. You can even plug into it's input and play anything you want on it. Bose's SoundTouch offers the same options including Bluetooth connectivity above and beyond everything else.

This appears to be a "subscribe to Apple Music" or have a deadweight object on your desk. Very limited product for $350.

No auxiliary input pretty much makes this useless to me.

 

[RamGuy]

I guess everyone has their own uses and opinions with these things. For sure, I'm packing up my 3 Sonos Speaker set-up and donating them to Good Will when the HomePods are available to purchase. The #1 problem I have with my Sonos Speakers is having to use the Sonos App to listen to my music, Also, I can't listen to or send any audio from my computer to my Sonos Speakers. When watching movies, videos or even individual audio tracks on my computer, the Sonos is useless. The fact that the HomePod is Airplay 2 compatible is a win-win for me. Nicely done Apple. Just wish you would release them sooner if you're comparing them to Amazon's Echo. Amazon is going to sell a truck load of ECHO products before this thing sees the light of day. Good Luck Apple.

If you have a Apple TV (and Sonos speakers connect to your TV, obviously) you can simply AirPlay to your Apple TV for Apple Music or whatever other app/service you want and it will work perfectly. But you have to manage all multi-room settings within the Sonos-app. Or you could get a AirPort Express and use the line-out and connect it to the line-in on a Sonos Play Bar, Play Base or Play 5 and you can do the same thing.

But one would hope that Sonos will integrate AirPlay 2 into their software/firmware like they recently did with Spotify Connect. That would be really awesome and I see no reason why Sonos wouldn't want to do this as that would make the Apple Homepod less of a competitor as Sonos would be capable of doing all the same things (besides the Siri stuff) all at the same time as it offers all the various other Sonos features that are cross-platform.


In terms of audio playback for videos it's tough. It's hard to get the video/audio in sync. I have tried to use AirPlay on both my Apple TV Gen 4 and my AirPort Express while watching Plex, YouTube etc on my iPad and it's never sync so it's a no-go for me. It works if you AirPlay the entire video to the Apple TV of course, but not when playing back video on my iPhone or iPad while playing the audio using AirPlay. One would hope Apple is capable of nailing this with the Homepad and AirPlay 2, but I have my doubts.


When it comes to replacing Sonos I'm somewhat sceptical. First off, the speaker seems to be tiny. Physics still applies for speakers and I have a really hard time believing Apple is able to put out something that challenges speakers like the Sonos Play 5, Play Bar, Play Base etc.. In such a tiny package. But only time will tell.

And how do Apple plan on tackling the living room? The prototype features no line-in, none at all. How would one connect this to the TV? I for one hate the idea of having extra speakers dedicated to music only in my living room. Apple should, just like Sonos be offering something that is capable of replacing your current living room system. Sonos offers the Play Bar, Play Base and the Play Sub, as well as they give you the capability of adding surround speakers by paring additional Play 1, 3 or 5's.

How is Apple planning to tackle this? If it's wireless only, it will only work with the Apple TV using bluetooth/AirPlay and that won't be good enough as I use other devices other than my Apple TV on my TV so I need some kind of line-in so it can be my TV speaker. Will Apple even try to provide something that supports Dolby Digital Plus surround? Or will they offer up to two channel stereo and that's it? Will they even support TV's at all??

Apple Music only? I can't connect to my iPhone via Bluetooth to play music I bought on iTunes? What the eff?

Of course you can, it will most certainly feature AirPlay 2.

It is not clear to me whether HomePod supports Airplay or not. On the footnotes they say it can deliver music to multiple speakers via Airplay, but it doesn't say if the HomePod can be used as a simple speaker.

I see no reason why it wouldn't support AirPlay 2. Not doing so would be outright stupid.

 

[recoil80]

I see no reason why it wouldn't support AirPlay 2. Not doing so would be outright stupid.

I don't see a reason either, but you never know...

 

[Keane16]

$349 for doing what an echo does

This is what a colleague of mine says about cars.

"££££ for a BMW when you could get a Vauxhall for ££ that does the same thing".

Even though both vehicles get you from A to B she completely misses the point on build quality, features, etc. etc. much like your comment.

==============

I'm looking forward to trying this speaker, don't think I'll replace my Zeppelin Air just yet, but I'm interested in the sound quality and additions to Siri.

 

[Tronic]

If comparing the Homepod directly to the Echo, I totally agree it's overpriced, however if comparing it to Sonos or Bose or similar, the price seems right.

One of the major rules of marketing is that you can't copy or steal a position already held by a competitor. Alexa is a proven success with its smart home function but I don't hear people raving about the quality of the speaker itself. If Apple were to release a low-cost Siri assistant they would be directly competing with Alexa and Google Home but by offering a smart speaker with a built in smart home assistant, they offer a benefit to consumers that might justify the price premium.

I think the fact that it's directly integrated into iOS will be its winning feature.

 

[TallManNY]

I wonder if this can work as a soundbar for a TV using Apple TV as its input. I didn't see any ports so we won't be able to get an HDMI cord into it. And it certainly isn't shaped like a bar. But depending on your setup you could have it sitting right below your TV.
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My guess: This is competing with Bose, not with Amazon.

It all depends on the sound quality.

Apple Hi-Fi was as good or better than any other speaker when it came out, at a similar price point, looking way better.

There's tons of $300+ AirPlay speakers out there, and none of them do anything other than playing music, and they aren't even that good at it. At the Echo price point, unless Amazon is heavily subsidizing it, it's just not going to sound as good.

I mean comparison tests will have to be the judge. Look at Bose speakers... just my guess but with Apple's obsession with music, I think this is going to sound better than Bose, cost the same, and offer whatever SIRI functions. So it'd be a pretty good deal.

Sure. But if you really care about sound quality, you have a set of speakers in your house and you can have Alexa functionality attached to it for $49. My Mom has an Echo Dot hooked up to her large Bose radio. She has had the Bose radio for years. It is much larger than the HomePod and I suspect it sounds about as good. And that is giving Apple tremendous benefit of doubt that they can get great sound into a small package.

All that said, I think this is a fine price. Most people want good sound, attractive design, small speakers and simplicity. This set up looks better than the Bose with an Echo Dot plugged in and sitting on top of it. The most cost effective solution is to plug Echo Dots into your existing speakers or even into new and larger powered speakers. But nothing is as simple as just buying one new device.

This will sellout and will outsell the full-sized Echo. Folks will pay attention to stuff from Apple and the price point is very accessible for the middle class in the U.S. (and priced as an impulse buy that will go unnoticed on the monthly credit card bill for the upper class)

And rmember this is a speaker and the A8 is a beast of a chip if all it has to do is run audio and Siri. It should work fine for the next ten years or more. Also folks will trust Apple's privacy policies and technology; privacy is a major hurdle.

 

[cjbryce]

On my list, and depending on it sounding very good for the money (and, preferably, the GBP pricing not being 1:1 with USD)

1. If this can be used with Apple TV as a sound source, I just solved the "problem" of a distinctly average sound quality from my bedroom TV.
2. If this can somehow take a sound feed from a TV or cable box then I may have three new front speakers for my home theatre set-up
3. If this can co-ordinate as rear speakers wirelessly with a 5.1 or 7.1 input I may have two new rear speakers for my home theatre set-up
4. If this can automatically detect whether I'm listening to 2.1 music or 5.1 TV and switch off the irrelevant satellites I might even be able to use it for my sat-down-listening-properly-to-music needs
5. It'd also be a good option my dining room and other "background music" applications to avoid having to buy a "proper" HiFi or a Sonos
6. If Siri recognises different voices it's almost a no-brainer for the point above

I suspect some or all of the above will be software driven so HomePodOS 2 or 3 might be worth the wait

For me, home automation is a one-day-I-might-get-round-to-it feature.

 

[gnipgnop]

1. Apple's own web page on the product never uses the word "stereo".

They don't really need to since they show the speaker's internal design has seven tweeters (each with it's own amplifier) + subwoofer + an internal SoC that provides audio beamforming capabilities. You only need two tweeters to achieve stereo sound.

 

[Corrode]

Yeah, I love metal speakers, that is what they are *always* made of. Who has heard of fabric covers for speakers? Absurd.

/s

Clearly you've only heard of fabric covers. Allow me to enlighten you.

 

[ggibson913]

You're missing out on what this product is.

The HomePod is NOT a competitor for the Echo. It's a competitor for those looking at Sonos or Bose equipment, but also like the Siri interface.

Then, when this product outsells the Sonos and Bose equipment, you'll ignore that, but instead still focus on it not outselling $50 junk in a completely different category.

It isn't really competition for them either, if they were attempting to compete with Sonos or Bose they would offer the ability to connect to more music services. Not everyone wants to pay 9.99 per month for Apple Music and even those who do may actually prefer another service.

 

[allprologue]

I understand they aren't necessarily trying to compete with Amazon/Google but rather Bose/Sonos, that's fine. But I know I'm not the only one who was holding off buying the Echo or Home thinking Apple might put something out that I would want more. But for almost 3 times the price I'm pretty disappointed and not even considering it. The fact that you can only connect to Apple Music is pretty awful too.

 

[RodoBobJon]

From a marketing perspective, it's very smart of Apple to focus on music. Rather than just plopping this "virtual assistant in a canister" into the market with no clear story about what it's for, they can sell it with a clear use case that people understand and like. They are avoiding the trap they fell into with the initial marketing of the Apple Watch before they refocused the message around health and fitness.

Sure, techies are excited about the Amazon Echo and Google Home just like they were excited about smart watches, but that's only because techies just inherently love new types of devices and platforms. Mainstream consumers need a better marketing story around use cases they can understand.

As far as the product itself goes: I know a few people who now listen to all of their music at home through their Echo due to how easy it is to control by voice, and they just kind of deal with the crappy sound quality. So I think there is a market for this. In general, there seems to be significant consumer interest in audio products that can give you a better experince than your crappy TV speakers without the hassle of a cumbersome home theater setup that is difficult to configure and use. If the HomePod is as simple to setup and use as AirPods, then I would not at all be suprised if Apple is able to catch the wave you can see in this soundbar sales chart.