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Apple's HomePod Estimated to Have Just 5% of Smart Speaker Market Share in U.S.
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I guess that's good for them. Maybe. I think. I'm not sure. I find it extremely hard to believe that there wasn't a group of people sitting in a board room at Apple and the topic of market share was never discussed. I always thought their entry into this market was a little odd but that's just me. If they're good with the result then I suppose that's all that matters for them.
There lies the problem with today's Apple. Apple puts its interests before the customer's. Apple doesn't want you using an alternative to Apple Music, so it does everything possible not to accommodate your individuality.
I keep thinking of the ear pods. Aside from the fact that Apple's ear buds that they include with devices don't fit my ears well, the sound also has never been amazing-- but clearly adequate / good enough for all the people that do use them.
Difference between them and the Homepod is that they're just a freebie to support the phone-- not the primary product. Still, there's probably room for something midrange.
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I have no idea-- but I imagine they do a lot of R&D on things that don't ever see the light of day. I guess someone decided this technology would be a good excuse to release a speaker (complement their iOS ecosystem and Apple Music service) and slapped Siri in there and called it good.
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Actually was one that I gave as a gift. Then when that one died I gave them the one I had bought for myself but never used. You can't argue that it wasn't a cheap product because it was-- $20-$30 you can't expect much, and the 90 day warranty is telling. Glad yours have held out!
There are two different issues going on.
One is class confusion. Lumping all speakers into a single pile, considering "smart" to be the defining feature, is dumb. It's like considering all cars as a single class, and pointing out that, strangely, people still buy Miata's and Ferrari's even though they are much more expensive than Honda's.
The point of HomePod is that it is a high quality speaker (something people pay money for in other contexts), not that it's some $30 shower speaker that happens to have Siri rather than Alexa.
But the second confusion is all Apple's fault, which is that this is a dumb product for APPLE.
It doesn't really hook into the things that Apple does well and sells. It doesn't come with an API, and a way for developers to get involved. It doesn't offer any sort of obvious promise of improving every few years. It's just not what people expect when they think of Apple devices.
If *I* ran Apple, I would have released it as a Beats product. Same price, same features, everything the same --- except it's Beats. If you want to buy a HIGH QUALITY speaker with Siri in, buy the Beats Home Pod, and it will work nicely with all your Apple stuff. But you're not buying that expectation of Apple extra, it's clear you're paying a speaker company for the cost of a good speaker.
I had Sonos Ones gen 2 all round the home and they were very clunky with Alexa built in but did sound good. Changed out for HomePods. First off the sound is amazing for a speaker of this size and even better than the Sonos for a room filling sound. Siri is poor but works enough to play my Apple Music and radio stations so very happy. Siri is not as clever as Alexa but I wasn't bothered about that. Sound quality was the reason not the assistant.
I have a high end Marantz Hifi set up and the HomePod does not come close for sound. As a stand alone speaker its a very good sound at the high end of the speakers available. As spoken about before if you can get them for £170 its a cracking deal but not worth the retail Apple have tried to sell it for. I find a lot of negativity from people who haven't used a HomePod but always comment on its failings rather than what its good at.
I have a high end Marantz Hifi set up and the HomePod does not come close for sound. As a stand alone speaker its a very good sound at the high end of the speakers available. As spoken about before if you can get them for £170 its a cracking deal but not worth the retail Apple have tried to sell it for. I find a lot of negativity from people who haven't used a HomePod but always comment on its failings rather than what its good at.
Lol that I love the HomePod but it should do more to be competitive. Yes, I know the main competitors are Bose/Sonos, but don’t think that was a market the masses really know about. So not absorbing a lot of market share should be expected, but still think Apple missed the mark by not basically making it the Home Kit hub (like Alex/Assistant) and should consider that more in the future.
Basically, keep the same great sound and add more Siri/home functionality and then it makes more sense as a product and at the price point. But to just say it’s just a nice speaker, I still feel Bose (personally) is better and even Sonos when comparing price points.
The sound is great but it doesn’t really do much more. I have mine in my living room and I’ve had to get a google home in the same room to supplement it.
I personally do t have a need for HomePod, but neither do I have a need for Alexa or google home.
As a speaker however the HomePod is fantastic. Just open the darn thing to Bluetooth.
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As a speaker however the HomePod is fantastic. Just open the darn thing to Bluetooth.
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Airplay 2?
Annnnd there's your value system. It's only a mistake in your judgment. You might think it's absurd to spend money on sound quality-- that's your prerogative. I'm glad the option exists, however.
The bigger challenge with all those sound quality attributes you mentioned is that they are very difficult to demo and sell to people. You can't really get that from a big crowded Apple store. I don't think any of Apple's claims really sunk in until I'd been using the Homepods for a while. My first impression was that I had wasted my money... now I love those things. That 4" woofer that moves 20mm? Shocking at the quality and quantity of bass it produces. (Granted, I did not pay $350 for them-- probably $250 or less. I won't argue that the original price was a really tough sell for a single speaker).
Absolutely, its hard to imagine that a crappy sounding speaker (all amazon, and low priced google) that goes for $29 and is no more than a toy, would have so much market share. What is surprising is that how anyone would place an excellent sounding speaker (HomePod, Google Home Max) is the same sounds crappy market category.
You just described pretty much all of Apple’s current product line except maybe a few iPads and the Apple Watch.
The Homepod, while good is overpriced and competing in a market where established companies (Google, Amazon) are selling comparable products for less than £100 and cheaper speakers for less than £50.
I bought two Google Home's for £100. One upstairs and one downstairs. Great sound, brilliant at searching for stuff. To do the same thing and have a weaker assistant it would cost me £600. I can also play all my music via Google Music for free! If I used Amazon or Apple products I would be tied to a subscription.
Siri, on the other hand, is .... meh!
If Apple released a budget model for £99.99 and the Homepod was priced at £199.99 I am sure they would sell more. The cheaper model is to get people sucked into the ecosystem. When they realise how useful it is, and they want better sound quality they will go for the more expensive model.
That's what I did. Google Home Mini, loved it. Wish it sounded better. Bought a Google Home, loved it. Bought another.
I bought two Google Home's for £100. One upstairs and one downstairs. Great sound, brilliant at searching for stuff. To do the same thing and have a weaker assistant it would cost me £600. I can also play all my music via Google Music for free! If I used Amazon or Apple products I would be tied to a subscription.
Siri, on the other hand, is .... meh!
If Apple released a budget model for £99.99 and the Homepod was priced at £199.99 I am sure they would sell more. The cheaper model is to get people sucked into the ecosystem. When they realise how useful it is, and they want better sound quality they will go for the more expensive model.
That's what I did. Google Home Mini, loved it. Wish it sounded better. Bought a Google Home, loved it. Bought another.
people, so many people, people who just make it up, people who don't really test it, people who just prefer google, so many people
do your ears work? "great sounding". no one rates those speakers as being great sounding. the google home max, yes, but not the lower priced ones. I'm sure google home max is overpriced too, by your definition, why do companies do this?
Huh? Apple should consider ads showcasing that you can listen to music on a ... speaker? Considering Siri sucks just as much as when it premiered on the iPhone 4 (4S?), there really isn’t much more that you can do.
