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Or how about

"I choose the device which best suits my needs for whatever reasons are my own and you choose yours. I am happy with my chosen platform as are you. Everyone is happy and that's all which truly matters."

Seems your main beef here is people opting to use a product you don't like, and that to me is just so petty and sad on so many levels.

I was prepared to give this product a miss, but you know what? I think I just might pick up a couple of these. Just because I know it will irritate you. That to me is value aplenty.

My main beef is Siri could be better and that's good for everybody. I really don't care what people buy.
 
When has Apple ever tried to compete on price? You don't buy Apple because it's cheaper than the competition.
I agree Apple doesn't compete on price. However, the question really comes down to what is the value proposition to justify the Apple price premium. Today Amazon dominates this market with a very affordable family of devices Echo, Echo Tap, Echo Dot, and the brand new Echo Look. All of these devices range from $49.99 to $199.99 and the newest one includes a built in camera. If Apple wants to break into this market they going to have to really impress the market with something "magical" at a typical Apple price premium or come out with something that in only an incremental improvement that is at least price competitive (not necessarily the cheapest but with a smaller price premium for a "me too" product).
 
I agree Apple doesn't compete on price. However, the question really comes down to what is the value proposition to justify the Apple price premium. Today Amazon dominates this market with a very affordable family of devices Echo, Echo Tap, Echo Dot, and the brand new Echo Look. All of these devices range from $49.99 to $199.99 and the newest one includes a built in camera. If Apple wants to break into this market they going to have to really impress the market with something "magical" at a typical Apple price premium or come out with something that in only an incremental improvement that is at least price competitive (not necessarily the cheapest but with a smaller price premium for a "me too" product).
The benefit for Apple is how it could work with iOS/Macs and Apple services. If it is able to play Apple Music and also send that stream to any or all Airplay receivers I have in the house, it would be worth paying more for their product. Siri can already handle most of the things I use the Echo for. It can turn on and off lights, it can set alarms, and reminders, and tell me sports scores and the weather. It could also have the advantage of handing off to the iPhone. In other words, I could ask Siri for the closest Tex-Mex restaurant and it could send directions to the phone. It could just work more seamlessly together rather than being a stand alone device than never leaves the house.

It could be possible to tell it to pull up your dog photos from your library and Airplay them on the AppleTV or tell it to show the video you shot this morning on the TV. This is the same way Casting is helping the Google Home. My main issue with Google, even though I am subscribe to YouTube Red, is that I don't want them tracking everything I say. I just think Apple is less creepy in a lot of ways. I don't mind Amazon, but I believe a lot of people will pay extra for the level of security Apple will most likely put on this device in addition to having another way to take advantage of the Apple ecosystem.

Right now, we really don't know what Apple will bring to the table, but the Apple Watch shows you just how many people will buy devices that plug into the Apple Ecosystem and give them an extra level of convenience. If Apple does this right, I have no doubt it will have some level of success. If it is like other Apple products, it could make the most revenues in the category while still not having the largest market share. Time will tell.
 
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The benefit for Apple is how it could work with iOS/Macs and Apple services. If it is able to play Apple Music and also send that stream to any or all Airplay receivers I have in the house, it would be worth paying more for their product. Siri can already handle most of the things I use the Echo for. It can turn on and off lights, it can set alarms, and reminders, and tell me sports scores and the weather. It could also have the advantage of handing off to the iPhone. In other words, I could ask Siri for the closest Tex-Mex restaurant and it could send directions to the phone. It could just work more seamlessly together rather than being a stand alone device than never leaves the house.

It could be possible to tell it to pull up your dog photos from your library and Airplay them on the AppleTV or tell it to show the video you shot this morning on the TV. This is the same way Casting is helping the Google Home. My main issue with Google, even though I am subscribe to YouTube Red, is that I don't want them tracking everything I say. I just think Apple is less creepy in a lot of ways. I don't mind Amazon, but I believe a lot of people will pay extra for the level of security Apple will most likely put on this device in addition to having another way to take advantage of the Apple ecosystem.

Right now, we really don't know what Apple will bring to the table, but the Apple Watch shows you just how many people will buy devices that plug into the Apple Ecosystem and give them an extra level of convenience. If Apple does this right, I have no doubt it will have some level of success. If it is like other Apple products, it could make the most revenues in the category while still not having the largest market share. Time will tell.
Great points. I am with you 100% about the privacy aspect of this type of device. If the options were only Apple or Google, that alone would keep me with Apple. However, I trust Amazon and the Echo has a great voice recognition system. If you are right and Apple does a good job of integrating the new device into the eco system, they could make it worth the price premium (at least to those of us already heavily invested in Apple products & services).
 
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Great points. I am with you 100% about the privacy aspect of this type of device. If the options were only Apple or Google, that alone would keep me with Apple. However, I trust Amazon and the Echo has a great voice recognition system. If you are right and Apple does a good job of integrating the new device into the eco system, they could make it worth the price premium (at least to those of us already heavily invested in Apple products & services).

Amazon provides cloud services to the CIA don't they?
 
I'll make a prediction. If Apple is going to introduce a home hub at WWDC, it won't come out until the Fall because one of its main features would preempt the revelation of an iPhone Edition feature: wireless long range charging.

A WiFi hub is the correct place to house energy transmission and a brand new, cutting edge technology (read: expensive) like this won't come included in the iPhone box, just like the iPhone or a Mac don't come with a WiFi router.

The WWDC announcement, if it is made, will be one of those two part product announcements. Announce the device at WWDC, say that it'll be ready in the Fall and at the iPhone Edition announcement in September, round out the features of the Siri hub, revealing that it'll wirelessly charge the iPhone Edition from across the room.
Wow, I hope you are right. I would definitely be interested in such a device. While I wouldn't be able to afford to replace my Echo Dots all over the house I would certainly replace the one in my bedroom and/or living room.
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Amazon provides cloud services to the CIA don't they?
I don't know that for fact but it would not surprise me as they provide cloud services for a lot of private companies. However, even if they do, that doesn't mean they share customer data without warrants. What makes me trust Apple and Amazon over Google really comes down to their business model. I am not aware of Apple or Amazon making a profit from selling customer data. Of course Amazon uses customer data themselves to suggest items you might want to purchase but to the best of my knowledge they do not share that data with anyone else.
 
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Wow, I hope you are right. I would definitely be interested in such a device. While I wouldn't be able to afford to replace my Echo Dots all over the house I would certainly replace the one in my bedroom and/or living room.
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I don't know that for fact but it would not surprise me as they provide cloud services for a lot of private companies. However, even if they do, that doesn't mean they share customer data without warrants. What makes me trust Apple and Amazon over Google really comes down to their business model. I am not aware of Apple or Amazon making a profit from selling customer data. Of course Amazon uses customer data themselves to suggest items you might want to purchase but to the best of my knowledge they do not share that data with anyone else.
I have Dots, so I trust them more than Google. However, they are recording your words and you can see them in the app. I would prefer end to end encryption without any record of what I said being available to anyone with or without a warrant. That is an area where Apple could excel and a lot of people would see a benefit in that.

I believe they will tout the security of the product over their competitors.
 
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I agree Apple doesn't compete on price. However, the question really comes down to what is the value proposition to justify the Apple price premium. Today Amazon dominates this market with a very affordable family of devices Echo, Echo Tap, Echo Dot, and the brand new Echo Look. All of these devices range from $49.99 to $199.99 and the newest one includes a built in camera. If Apple wants to break into this market they going to have to really impress the market with something "magical" at a typical Apple price premium or come out with something that in only an incremental improvement that is at least price competitive (not necessarily the cheapest but with a smaller price premium for a "me too" product).

Design.
HomeKit.
AirPlay.
Siri.

While Amazon has improved design a bit in the latest Echo Look, believe it or not, what has held me back despite having several Alexa compatible devices, is how darn ugly the thing is. I don't want those things scattered around my perfectly curated designer home. An Apple device would be guaranteed to be beautiful.

The ability to control HomeKit by speaking out loud to "your home" just has the sci-fi fan in me giddy. While Alexa and Google Home can do this, none of them integrate with HomeKit. If you're invested in Apple's ecosystem and started building a HomeKit home, only Apple's device will work seamlessly.

AirPlay is built in tightly to iOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS. If you're invested in Apple, AirPlay speakers work seamlessly and you'll want to get only AirPlay speakers for your home if possible.

While people like to poke fun at Siri, she's the only voice assistant that works with multiple languages. She's also been getting much better and from Apple's research into AI, there's indications that Siri is about to leap forward. At the very least, Siri is not going to get worse. It's guaranteed to at least grow better incrementally. Finally, if you're used to using Siri on your iPhone, AppleWatch and AppleTV, familiarity with the system will be a selling point for an Apple voice assistant speaker.

With those points in mind, it doesn't matter that the Siri speaker will be more expensive. If you're in the Apple ecosystem, you'll want to get an Apple device to tie it all together neatly. Apple has never competed on price and they have no reason to with this device.
 
Amazon provides cloud services to the CIA don't they?

If they do, so what.

Amazon also helps provide the App Store, Apple Music, iCloud backups, iWork and more, for Apple.

In 2015 Apple additionally signed up to use Google Cloud Platform, and has moved or copied services to it as well.

I don't know that for fact but it would not surprise me as they provide cloud services for a lot of private companies. However, even if they do, that doesn't mean they share customer data without warrants.

None of the major players like Amazon, Apple, Google reveal info without a court order.

What makes me trust Apple and Amazon over Google really comes down to their business model. I am not aware of Apple or Amazon making a profit from selling customer data. Of course Amazon uses customer data themselves to suggest items you might want to purchase but to the best of my knowledge they do not share that data with anyone else.

Google doesn't sell personal data either.

Like Apple, they sell anonymous ad slots instead.
 
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Tim Cook, who has brought Apple to the highest stock price on the companies history, has sold more phones then Steve jobs ever did, launched a category Lessing smartwatch, quadrupled the services business and has turned Apple into the most valuable company in the world should be fired????

Siri is the biggest piece of crap ever. It never understands anything that I say, and whenever I try to pull up someone from my address book with an ethnic, non-American, non-Anglo name it goes batsh*t crazy. Tim Cook needs to be fired, the state of Apple today is unbelievably bad. Now they think throwing something on the market just because the other guy is doing it is a good thing? Since when?

Apple absolutely can no longer innovate. That's clear. Look at the iPhone that has barely evolved. Look at iMac that has not been updated in how long? Look at Macbook Pro and all the controversy surrounding the last release. Then look at Mac Pro that will not have been updated to current, basic technology until sometime next year or beyond. Apple's Board of Directors should be raving mad and should replace Cook immediately with someone who actually has passion for what he does.

At this point Microsoft has a more creative, more passionate CEO than Apple and their products show it.
 
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