You're not the target audience. Apple is targeting the Homepod on people who appreciate a higher quality of music and music experience than just is what comes out of your typical bluetooth speaker. They designed an enhance Siri just for music exploration and playback, but cool that's not important to you. The Homepod will protect your privacy, but you are probably OK, as are a lot of people, with Google and Amazon loading up everything the speaker hears to the cloud because "you have nothing to hide" from law enforcement, hackers, intel agencies, etc. , who will have access to your data. The Homepod will be a smart speaker with a very powerful processor to handle updates for years to come, you have already said you are content with what you currently have.
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Apple's Phil Schiller on HomePod: We Want to Create a New Kind of Music Experience in the Home That Sounds Incredible
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You're not the target audience. Apple is targeting the Homepod on people who appreciate a higher quality of music and music experience than just is what comes out of your typical bluetooth speaker. They designed an enhance Siri just for music exploration and playback, but cool that's not important to you. The Homepod will protect your privacy, but you are probably OK, as are a lot of people, with Google and Amazon loading up everything the speaker hears to the cloud because "you have nothing to hide" from law enforcement, hackers, intel agencies, etc. , who will have access to your data. The Homepod will be a smart speaker with a very powerful processor to handle updates for years to come, you have already said you are content with what you currently have.
Except the AirPods were a truly first of their kind product without any direct competitor already being successful in the market.
What was that Steve Jobs quote? "A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them." The AirPods are really like that - there was nothing like them on the market and people didn't realize they wanted it until they saw it.
The HomePod is nothing like that. It's not the first on the market, it's not even the fourth. It's entering an already mature market offering fewer features, severely limited compatibility, and higher price. And on top of all that, Apple over-promised features and is now under-delivering.
I'm not saying it's going to be a failure, it's probably going to be quite successful. I never doubt the Apple marketing machine. Rather I'm saying of all the other products Apple has launched in the past few years, this is the biggest example of Apple following the market rather than creating it or leading it. On the contrary, the AirPods were Apple creating and leading a market.
I don’t disagree with the general sentiment of your point, but that is simply not true. It’s been 20 years since people didn’t know the difference or care.
The thing I hate about Bluetooth is limited range and poor sound quality. It's not like I have bad bluetooth speakers either - but anytime I leave the room with my phone, the music skips or pauses. And it's pretty common. Playing music during a friendly gathering, someone calls me saying they are here and to open the door, I go to the door and the speaker in the living room stops. No good.
You do know the function of marketing and engineers, don't you? Why should engineers be bothered to be talking about selling the product? Each should do their job function.
Which is why 99% of users would probably be happy buying something way cheaper that sounds good.
You can't really have it both ways. If you are going for the premium market, then it needs to be premium. Or are you saying Apple users will just buy it no matter the cost, but don't really care about sound quality?
As someone who has spent more on HDtracks.co.uk than I will on two HomePods I can tell you that this is a non-issue.
Last I checked Apple Music is 256Mbps AAC - a huge difference from 128 MP3s
I find it funny how the clueless media keeps referring to this speaker as expensive relative to the competition. If early reviews are saying it sounds better than speakers that cost more, but you also get Siri functionality and a revolutionary audio system that continuously and automatically optimizes sound output based on its surroundings, $349 sure as heck sounds like an amazing value.
The Sonos app has advantages and disadvantages. I don’t really mind it, but I primarily play music from my library, not streaming services. On that point, you are completely wrong. Sonos will play your own music from any computer or NAS on your home network.
Late isn’t the issue. What matters is what you bring to the table when you finally decide to play. That’s my gripe with HomePod. They haven’t done anything special. This is the first Apple product that has no discernible advantage over other similar products. Sure, it sounds good, beam forming, blah blah blah. But the overall feature set? The usefulness of the assistant? Not remotely better than anything else out there.
I think the fanboys and girls will buy it...and then sales fall off a cliff. Apple needs Siri to be better before HomePod stands a chance. I don’t think HomePod will be a slow burn like the Watch unless/until Apple delivers a vastly improved smart speaker experience, which means a much much more useful Siri.
I sure hope this is not a "mature market" as yet. I don't think so as much development is still to come. Could you imagine Windows 3.1 being the best of a mature market?
Correct. The downside, and my only chief complaint about Sonos. No AirPlay. If they would have provided that I’d have stuck with them. However, they have stated that Airplay will only appear on the newest Alexa version, not the Play:1, and possibly not even the Play:3, or :5. Dealbreaker.
Em....”people who appreciate a higher quality of music” use vinyl, which I also use. The grunt of my music is on my iPhone, however, and I’m perfectly content with the sound of it for everyday listening. Smart speakers are the rage these days, but I’ve found very little use for them when I’ve tried them out.
The HomePod is exciting because it seems to offer high quality sound in a small footprint. People that buy Bose, will buy a HomePod. It’s the same audience. Overpriced speakers that sound good enough.
By making the iPod an app AND pushing music streaming subscription-based model, Apple and the music industry has made music into an entirely impersonal affair for at least two generations of listeners.
This speaker will not be successful. Not only because music is no longer tent pole of modern entertainment, but also because Apple's competitors are doing home entertainment and connectivity way better than Apple.
Want to "Make Music Great Again"? Bring back a dedicated and personal iPod experience that ONLY focuses on music. Make this ugly toilet roll of a device into not only a speaker but also the home Wi Fi router.
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This speaker will not be successful. Not only because music is no longer tent pole of modern entertainment, but also because Apple's competitors are doing home entertainment and connectivity way better than Apple.
Want to "Make Music Great Again"? Bring back a dedicated and personal iPod experience that ONLY focuses on music. Make this ugly toilet roll of a device into not only a speaker but also the home Wi Fi router.
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Sorry -- it still looks like a ball of yarn found at the fabric store. Way to go, Sir Jony! /s
I've been using an iPad at work for years, but but maybe it's just me...
Who are these people you speak of? You’re the person who said Apple is Doomed in a prior thread today and finally a mod had to make a post saying enough already, you aren’t as clever as you think you are. You must have a lot of time on your hands to post nonsense so quickly.
Alex Jones: 'Home Pod, do you work for the CIA?"
Home Pod Siri: "No, I'm not employed by them. I'm made by Apple"
Home Pod Siri: "No, I'm not employed by them. I'm made by Apple"
