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Apple's HomePod Plans: What's in the Works for 2023 and Beyond

tubular said:
Agonizingly. One of the rare cases where Apple's marketing snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
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I disagree. There's no way marketing could have made HomePod a success. HomePod was an ill-conceived product. It was too expensive and too limited compared to other smart speakers. No amount of marketing was going to fix that.

The emphasis on audio quality was pointless too. The smart speaker market doesn't care about audio quality. The market that does care about audio quality, the market Sonos rules, would never have been interested in the HomePod because it lacked so many necessary features. I don't blame marketing. I blame the the team that created such a half-baked product and thought anyone would actually want it. Beyond hardcore Apple fans who continue to sing its praises on forums, absolutely nobody was interested in HomePod.
 
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Le0M said:
Sure, but HomePod was obviously not meant for those who don't care about sound quality much, so I wonder: did Apple expect to sell more units to that small piece of market made of people who actually enjoy sound quality?
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I don't think it's a small market. The problem was, Apple's offering was lackluster. Had HomePod been a family of products, had it offered surround sound, Atmos, etc., I think it could have been very successful. The smart speaker market doesn't care about audio quality and the home audio market needs more than a single speaker, no matter how impressive the audio quality. It was an ill-conceived product from day one.
 
The-Real-Deal82 said:
I think it’s highly likely that is what they expected. They probably thought that tiny market would be swayed towards ‘Apples way’ but they didn’t factor in that Sonos, Bose and others had already established their reputations to that limited audience. They also forgot perhaps that again within that tiny market, not everybody uses an iPhone. In hindsight it was a ruddy strange market to go after and sadly those iPhone users that did want a great sounding speaker were left with a great sounding speaker with a poor service’s implementation and Siri which is perhaps one of the worst voice recognition softwares in the industry.

I know people here are hoping for a new HomePod in the next couple of years but I can’t help but think that ship sailed long ago with other companies already dominating. It reminds me a bit like Microsoft’s attempt at entering the smartphone market a couple of years too late.
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Hold on: HomePods CAN be controlled via Android or Windows, right??
 
blairh said:
We need a homepod with a screen. This is obvious. Something where you can navigate your music collection, FaceTime. Long overdue now.
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It has a nice screen, camera, and control of your music - it's your phone! ...and you don't even need to drag your homepod to where you want to interact with your facetime call or manipulate your music~!
 
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IMFHSN said:
It has a nice screen, camera, and control of your music - it's your phone! ...and you don't even need to drag your homepod to where you want to interact with your facetime call or manipulate your music~!
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Get off it mate. It would be a totally different experience versus using an iPhone.
 
Allen_Wentz said:
So sell. Someone like me will snap them up. Despite effed up marketing, original HomePods are a genius product, not a "disgrace."
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Till the psu burns out. Run them in ARC mode with Siri enabled and see how long they last. Cook themselves to death, sometimes they don’t fail completely but the woofer fails. Poorly designed product with cheap components that is difficult to repair. I have 8 of them, 4 working 4 dead, 50% failure rate. 4 blew the PSU’s.
 
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CarlJ said:
It’s a road worth considering going down, but it would no longer be Mini. There isn’t sufficient space inside for a battery that would last a lengthy period of time. So, it would necessarily get bigger.

Frankly, I’m surprised that one of the more well-known battery/accessory companies (Mophie, Twelve South, Anker, Belkin) hasn’t released a purpose-built stand/battery for the HomePod Mini, where the Mini’s cord coils up in a fitting on the top of the stand, the Mini nestles in on top, and the stand contains a battery capable of driving the speaker for many hours.
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Good point and that second part, wow, what a great idea! I would buy such a thing in a heartbeat.
 
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What I do not like about the wifi multi room audio is the throw away nature of it all. Sonos already done this. You have a great sounding powered speaker but for the sake of a little PCB inside that becomes obsolete, you have replace the whole thing. I also hate the fact you need a control app. Everything thing could be done through a web browser.

A decent basic amp and speaker setup should last you a life time if not, a very long time!
 
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Le0M said:
Sure, but HomePod was obviously not meant for those who don't care about sound quality much, so I wonder: did Apple expect to sell more units to that small piece of market made of people who actually enjoy sound quality?
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I'm in that small niche of the market that puts SQ first and TBH I wouldn't touch Homepods or Sonos with a ten foot pole because the hifi system I've already built over a period of years wipes the floor with all the single lot of them.

So yeah. Homepods were an awkward proposition that answered a question no one asked. Too expensive for most general users who will buy an Echo, or if they're being adventurous a Sonos, but not high-end enough to attract hifi enthusiasts. Just to make sure the nail was firmly in the coffin, you couldn't connect to them via the absolute uncontested number one method people use to connect to wireless devices: BlueTooth.

EDIT: Oh and let's not forget I believe you needed an Apple device to set one up, which in my country instantly excluded the majority of potential buyers because Apple products are a minority market, other than being the default 'work-issued' phone.

To me, the only bizarre thing about the whole fiasco is, I knew the product was absolutely dead in the water even during Tim Cook's launch video, and yet people at Apple on more than ten times my salary could not see it. Hifi history is absolutely littered with middle-ground products that no one bought because those who valued convenience bought a cheaper equivalent and those who valued SQ bought high-end, one such example being the Sony Elkaset.
 
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Le0M said:
Hold on: HomePods CAN be controlled via Android or Windows, right??
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Apple have lifted some of the restrictions but it’s hardly worth it unless you have an iPhone or iPad. I don’t think you can set a HomePod Mini up with an Android device but once setup it will let you play music as long as a third party app is applied. You’ve highlighted a very good point in that unless you have an iPhone, a HomePod is barely worth the bother and especially as the competition are multi platform in their entirety.
 
CarlJ said:
It’s a road worth considering going down, but it would no longer be Mini. There isn’t sufficient space inside for a battery that would last a lengthy period of time. So, it would necessarily get bigger.

Frankly, I’m surprised that one of the more well-known battery/accessory companies (Mophie, Twelve South, Anker, Belkin) hasn’t released a purpose-built stand/battery for the HomePod Mini, where the Mini’s cord coils up in a fitting on the top of the stand, the Mini nestles in on top, and the stand contains a battery capable of driving the speaker for many hours.
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happy christmas

www.amazon.co.uk

PlusAcc Battery Base for Dt 4th/5th Generation - 10000 mAh Battery stand Accessories for Bedroom and Outdoors with Extended Playtime, Portable Charger, for Home Mini (Not Include Dt) Black

PlusAcc Battery Base for Dot 4th/5th Generation
www.amazon.co.uk

... though these have been available for a long time now!
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
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Can someone please explain to me why Apple hasn’t made a HomePod/AppleTV into a single device?
 
blairh said:
We need a homepod with a screen. This is obvious. Something where you can navigate your music collection, FaceTime. Long overdue now.
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The screen is the iPhone/iPad. Video chat on dedicated devices has been a project for about 20-30 years but never works out well.
 
stocklen said:
Apple always seem to know what they are doing.

The OG HomePod was too expensive, didnt sell well, and the software wasnt up to scratch including SIRI capabilities when compared to the competition.

It had to go......

But how clever... bring out the mini..... it sounds OK, but create the hunger for the bigger larger more expensive model that never existed before..... absence makes the heart grow fonder after all.

I think it will look like a squat version of the OG, slightly smaller, and a much better audio than the mini.
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This: Apple always seem to know what they are doing.

And This: The OG HomePod was too expensive, didnt sell well, and the software wasnt up to scratch including SIRI capabilities when compared to the competition.
It had to go......

Don't match.

"But how clever... bring out the mini..... it sounds OK, but create the hunger for the bigger larger more expensive model that never existed before..... absence makes the heart grow fonder after all."

Clever would have been to start with the mini and work your way up from the get go, not the other way around.
 
sinsin07 said:
This: Apple always seem to know what they are doing.

And This: The OG HomePod was too expensive, didnt sell well, and the software wasnt up to scratch including SIRI capabilities when compared to the competition.
It had to go......

Don't match.

"But how clever... bring out the mini..... it sounds OK, but create the hunger for the bigger larger more expensive model that never existed before..... absence makes the heart grow fonder after all."

Clever would have been to start with the mini and work your way up from the get go, not the other way around.
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thanks for taking the time to meticulously pick apart my words.

Clearly the intention was to say that apple knows what they are doing in that they discontinued the OG and replaced with minis to build the user base and stoke demand before reintroducing the more expensive and therefore more palatable model.
 
I just don't get why Apple hasn't made the Mini more portable. It's a good design for wireless charging and small enough to transport. It could use your iPhone as a way to connect to the internet easily via Apple Magic or hotspot. Or even within your home, I'd like to move it around.

Anyway, it's why I spent twice as much on a Sonos Roam.
 
Ashbash75 said:
What I do not like about the wifi multi room audio is the throw away nature of it all. Sonos already done this. You have a great sounding powered speaker but for the sake of a little PCB inside that becomes obsolete, you have replace the whole thing. I also hate the fact you need a control app. Everything thing could be done through a web browser.

A decent basic amp and speaker setup should last you a life time if not, a very long time!
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To be fair, Sonos sells the Port and Amp, neither of which has a speaker. The Port lets you add Sonos functionality to an existing Hifi setup. The Amp, as the name implies, is an amplifier. Both allow you to connect whatever speakers you want.

Also, most Sonos devices have an Ethernet port, so you can set up a much more reliable wired network.

This is why Sonos is the leader. They offer a variety of products that cater to different customer types and setups. And it all works together. Most of my Sonos setup is Amp boxes connected to the speakers of my choice.
 
I will pay 300-500 euros for a bigger HomePod with excellent sound quality. I will certainly buy two for 600-900 euros.
A tip for Apple : buy one for 400 and the second will be at 320
 
JamesHolden said:
To be fair, Sonos sells the Port and Amp, neither of which has a speaker. The Port lets you add Sonos functionality to an existing Hifi setup. The Amp, as the name implies, is an amplifier. Both allow you to connect whatever speakers you want.

Also, most Sonos devices have an Ethernet port, so you can set up a much more reliable wired network.

This is why Sonos is the leader. They offer a variety of products that cater to different customer types and setups. And it all works together. Most of my Sonos setup is Amp boxes connected to the speakers of my choice.
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You totally missed the point of what I said but at the end of day sound is very subjective. Me? I would never buy a sonos!
 
Ashbash75 said:
You totally missed the point of what I said. Since when does a BASIC amp have an ethernet port?
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I didn’t miss the point. You said you didn’t like the throwaway nature of their powered speakers. You don’t need to buy their powered speakers. You can buy their Amp or Port and connect whatever speakers you want. If that device fails, just like if a traditional Hifi rack component fails, speakers are not affected. Things fail. That’s unavoidable. I know people who are still using the first generation Sonos Zoneplayer amps today. Their products are quite reliable.

As for a basic amp having an Ethernet port, I don’t see the issue? Plenty of todays receivers have Ethernet and/or wifi support.
 
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