Watch the keynote again. It is claimed that it does not send anything to Apple until it picks up "Hey Siri".
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Apple Unveils $349 HomePod Smart Speaker to be Available in December
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Watch the keynote again. It is claimed that it does not send anything to Apple until it picks up "Hey Siri".
Ouch, huge miss Apple. What does this do that the Echo doesn't for a much lower price? Considering how much Apple's stock is down right now, it's not a good day for the tech giant.
Yuck. No thanks. I'll wait about 2 years and get this for $50 second hand. Dam, Steve Jobs really is gone from this company. No soul left, they even took every crappy thing about the music app (which they destroyed in iOS10) and added it the App Store. Now that's ruined too. Really wish I could slap Tim Cook. NO. STOP. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Amazon definitely has the lead way with having affordability and a larger product line across the market with their smart speakers with the echo And the Dot. And now they are venturing on the path of a smart speaker with a display, even cheaper than Apples smart speaker. I'm not the disparaging against Apple's smart speaker, but that price is much higher than I anticipated.
This price doesn't compete.
I know it might sound a lot better and all, but especially when they tout setting up two to compliment each other they are asking QUITE a lot for what is still just a music speaker, not one to hook up to your TV for cinema sound.
I mean, real talk here: this is for Average Joe with disposable income, I get that much, but when the Amazon Echo comes in at 180 and is on sale FREQUENTLY (actually kinda hard to buy at full price) you're looking at a hefty markup.
And no word on apps/skills whatever you want to call it.
If this is barebones Siri without the apps, if this needs Apple Music and can't tap into my iTunes Home Share and iTunes Match this is quite the show stopper.
Pretty sure that a lot of Apple users already found their nice set of speakers and aren't necessarily looking to replace them, but rather compliment them.
In fact, might as well go the Echo Dot route for me.
Give me one device to connect my speakers to that provides a network audio interface for my Mac, iPad, iPhone, hell even other kinds of devices and you got it.
THAT would change the game.
Make it affordable, make it an impulse buy like the Apple TV 3 back in its day. Like the AirPort Express almost... (Oh... remember those?)
This is too little, too late, too limited and too expensive.
It will mature over time I'm sure, but it is - much like the Apple Watch - another new product category launch by Apple that leaves me scratching my head more than a gaping mouth.
Glassed Silver:mac
I know it might sound a lot better and all, but especially when they tout setting up two to compliment each other they are asking QUITE a lot for what is still just a music speaker, not one to hook up to your TV for cinema sound.
I mean, real talk here: this is for Average Joe with disposable income, I get that much, but when the Amazon Echo comes in at 180 and is on sale FREQUENTLY (actually kinda hard to buy at full price) you're looking at a hefty markup.
And no word on apps/skills whatever you want to call it.
If this is barebones Siri without the apps, if this needs Apple Music and can't tap into my iTunes Home Share and iTunes Match this is quite the show stopper.
Pretty sure that a lot of Apple users already found their nice set of speakers and aren't necessarily looking to replace them, but rather compliment them.
In fact, might as well go the Echo Dot route for me.
Give me one device to connect my speakers to that provides a network audio interface for my Mac, iPad, iPhone, hell even other kinds of devices and you got it.
THAT would change the game.
Make it affordable, make it an impulse buy like the Apple TV 3 back in its day. Like the AirPort Express almost... (Oh... remember those?)
This is too little, too late, too limited and too expensive.
It will mature over time I'm sure, but it is - much like the Apple Watch - another new product category launch by Apple that leaves me scratching my head more than a gaping mouth.
Glassed Silver:mac
Fitting end for the Mac Pro. Now it's just a speaker with an A8 chip.
Wow. They're going to sell dozens of these. 
Yes they did, the explicitly said that they would work in unison to create an even better sound experience
I was thinking the exact same thing haha!
I'm hoping there's a function in iOS 11 that will let your iPhone and iPad know that a HomePod is in the room and disable "Hey Siri" on those devices until you're far enough away from the HomePod.
I guess they'll explain it when it gets closer to release.
autrefois
macrumors 65816
Looks more like Apple's effort to rehash old ideas (from them and others, including the name). Hopefully I'm proven wrong but I don't see me or anyone I know wanting one. They might want something like an Echo. They might want a decent speaker. But not both together, especially at that price.
Thanks.. .I missed that. I wonder how the handshaking will be. I am sure the closest one to the voice will be the "controller" at any given time.
How will this work with a family that has more than one iCloud account?
I'm guessing like Apple TV, it doesn't very well.
I'm guessing like Apple TV, it doesn't very well.
Exactly...Apple has no desire to compete on price - they are going after Sonos crowd and their overpriced stuff. While I can afford it, I think $ 249-$279 should be the absolute price for this. All this means is that best buy and others will have this thing for $ 299 come Christmas time.
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With the Apple Watch and iPhone next to each other, when you say "Her Siri" only one of them is activated at a time.
What I'm curious about is how does this work with multiple users in a room? If my wife wants to send a text, will it come from my account...?
You're not going to that speak set up for $150...
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This is an echo + sonos.
I believe it only responds to the voice that originally programmed Siri. That is why you have to say "Hey Siri" a few times when first setting it up. It needs to learn your voice so it only responds to you. When you say "Hey Siri" only your apple devices should respond. When your wife says "Hey Siri" only her devices should respond, etc.
I was really interested in this up until they announced the price. I knew they would end up more expensive than the Echo ($180), and Google Home ($130), but I wasn't expecting this much (I was thinking $200-250 like many others). I will have to wait and see how reviews go before considering it. I held off on the AirPods, and have ended up really liking them, but I'm not sure about this. My logitech boombox that I caught on sale for $100 at Best Buy is still going strong in my kitchen right now. I've got 3 other friends that I suggested it to that are all still enjoying theirs as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-984...d=1496692343&sr=8-1&keywords=logitech+boombox
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Yes, it wasn't mentioned about recognizing different voices/users. Let's hope that's a feature upon release.