Perhaps it is where I live, but I have seen faster adoption of HomePod than I did for AirPods. I have one and love it. Siri is great, and I love how accurate it is under loud conditions. I will be getting more once AirPlay 2 arrives. I also have AirPods, which I also love.
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Barclays Says AirPods Continue to Grow, HomePod Sales Have Been Underwhelming
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I think the problem with is is the cost. If they were $30 like the google mini people might buy them. Yes the sound is better then Google's $30 speaker. The sound is good for such a tiny little speaker but not nearly as good as a real stereo speaker that sells for the same price.
So, the sound is good for such a tiny little box but not as good as a typical $300 speaker.
And Siri is not nearly at the level of Google.
If Apple would drop the price to under $100 and improve Siri, these would fly off the shelf.
So, the sound is good for such a tiny little box but not as good as a typical $300 speaker.
And Siri is not nearly at the level of Google.
If Apple would drop the price to under $100 and improve Siri, these would fly off the shelf.
You should rename the front page into "AntiMacRumors" or something! Because it doesn't matter which post I read, most comments are apple ****** here, iphone ****** there, mac sucks here, everything sucks there.
It's a speaker. And it has better sound than the cheapies. That's how I judge a speaker, by the sound it makes.
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An item that costs about $350, and you are talking about "more money than sense"?
lol. What a shocker. An overpriced speaker that can only do a third more then a regular speaker and 2/3rds less than Google or Amazon can for 5x the price. Who would of thought!
Of the 7+ million people in the SF Bay Area, I'm guessing 0.5% or so might be Apple employees. With respect to "wannabes," whatever that means, I have yet to meet any, but imagine the number is far lower.
"I think this is a problem with Apple and their employees, what they see in the Bay Area is what they think the world is like. "
Most people in the Bay Area are well-educated, I highly doubt they believe the rest of the world is like the Bay Area - I certainly haven't met any, ever. That's an interesting projection of yours, though. One you might want to keep in check.
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Look through all the posts about the HomePod and see how many people complain that it can’t do the commands that Alexa and Google Home can. Over and over and over, people are going to compare the HomePod to Amazons and Googles speakers no matter how many times Apple tries to highlight sound rather than voice functions.
Look at whatever city you live in and see how many audiophile centric stores there are. Unless you live in a very big city it’s probably only a couple, at most. Now look for consumer grade audio. Best Buy, Walmart, Costco, Target and local and regional stores all sell budget priced audio equipment, from stereo equipment to speakers. Not high end not premium sound. Budget. Unless it screeches horribly most people will be happy with how it sounds. Even happier because it only cost $30-150 dollars instead of $350.00. They don’t care about superior sound. Most people never have. That’s why high quality audio stores have always been few and far between.
What people like about these speaker systems isn’t the sound quality but the add in abilities that the voice commands give them. “ What’s the weather” “Read my Text Message” and the fact that evidently Amazon and Google know WHO is talking so it will play ‘my favorite playlist ‘ and if someone else has the same request it will play their playlist.
Sound quality has never overcome lower cost and fancy gimmicks. Ever.
Exactly the point in my posts. It can absolutely depend on where you live. There can be different observations, some think life HAS to be a clone of them and their experience everywhere.
That balances out all the "apple never makes a bad product, apple is perfect" posts from some of our sheep members.
I have the HP just for the quality speaker and for the price, sounds great for such a small device. Its a lifestyle product.
I also have 3 Echo Dots and use Alexa but in my experience Siri is less fussy than Alexa in terms of controlling my connected devices. Alexa is very much keyword driven. Now general knowledge questions Alexa will beat Siri lol.
HP is a great sounding speaker so long you have iTunes purchases or Apple Music. I have Sonos speakers as well and much prefer the HP. HP will only get better in terms of its functionality. I don't think Apple designed this for people outside the Apple eco system and lets be honest there isn't any incentive for people to buy otherwise......but thats Apple for you and in many ways missed an opportunity.
I also have 3 Echo Dots and use Alexa but in my experience Siri is less fussy than Alexa in terms of controlling my connected devices. Alexa is very much keyword driven. Now general knowledge questions Alexa will beat Siri lol.
HP is a great sounding speaker so long you have iTunes purchases or Apple Music. I have Sonos speakers as well and much prefer the HP. HP will only get better in terms of its functionality. I don't think Apple designed this for people outside the Apple eco system and lets be honest there isn't any incentive for people to buy otherwise......but thats Apple for you and in many ways missed an opportunity.
I'll buy multiple of them when they have these features.
- Able to listen to the same stream from multiple speakers in multiple rooms, or be able to listen to different speakers independently. (Coming w/ Airplay 2)
- The device should understand who is speaking to it with voice recognition, and use that person's account rather than having all the activity get routed through one account.
- The device should be able to accept inputs from external devices, primarily thinking of my TV.
It's just too limited without those features.
- Able to listen to the same stream from multiple speakers in multiple rooms, or be able to listen to different speakers independently. (Coming w/ Airplay 2)
- The device should understand who is speaking to it with voice recognition, and use that person's account rather than having all the activity get routed through one account.
- The device should be able to accept inputs from external devices, primarily thinking of my TV.
It's just too limited without those features.
You proved me right with the narcissistic attitude. You just don’t get that it can depend on where you live. There’s that.
Have a nice life.
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Blame Apple for putting out ****** products and charging ****** prices assuming everyone will just lap it up because Apple.
Re: HP - deficient sales : Easy to call this one from the initial rollout. Bet some here are "dreading" having to read about it and what about that 10 million sales prediction? 
A Mini HP if priced right with an actual functioning Siri and not enforcing indentured slavery to their ecosystem..... will be a hit!
A Mini HP if priced right with an actual functioning Siri and not enforcing indentured slavery to their ecosystem..... will be a hit!
How do those "infinitely cheaper" options from Amazon and Google sound? That's what's really important, sound, right?
"What did they expect?"
What do you mean by "expect?" Do you mean coming from: "... Barclays says HomePod sales have been "underwhelming" so far."
And then in the very next sentence said: "The research note says Apple planned an initial production run of 6-7 million units, but it's unclear how many have sold."
What would you expect if it is unknown how many have been sold.
It is going to be very regional, in no small part, because my city is pedestrian and one notices such things sitting on buses or trains. They're amazing headphones and the first wireless headphones I've owned that I actually like.
Unreal for the amount of hate in this thread on the HomePod and Airpods. First off, I would say the AirPods are highly successful since its launch in December 2016. The Airpods are still constrained when stores receive stock and sell out almost immediately.
The HomePod hasn’t even been released a month yet, and others are calling it a failure in here? (Which doesn’t say much for those who likely have never even used one). As far as the HomePod, Siri does exactly what it needs to with basic and simple task, with the primary focus being a highly quality sound speaker.
Both products are successful in their own right.
The HomePod hasn’t even been released a month yet, and others are calling it a failure in here? (Which doesn’t say much for those who likely have never even used one). As far as the HomePod, Siri does exactly what it needs to with basic and simple task, with the primary focus being a highly quality sound speaker.
Both products are successful in their own right.
Called this one from the initial rollout. Bet some here are dreading having to read about it and what about that 10 million sales prediction?
A Mini HP if priced right with an actual functioning Siri will be a hit.
What exactly did you "call?"
Remember a few weeks ago when Apple announced heavily discounted HomePods for employees and I commented saying it's because Apple isn't selling them, and their trying to move inventory...
Darn it feels good to be right. I should work for KGI, my comments repeatedly tend to be accurate.
Darn it feels good to be right. I should work for KGI, my comments repeatedly tend to be accurate.
I guess it depends where you live, in NYC everyone has them. They are as common as Apple's iconic white string headphones were back in the day. I can't go 5 min in the streets of NY or the subway without seeing a pair.