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HomePod Do you think HomePod will end up being dropped from Apple’s line up soon?

J

Jasonstevens

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 5, 2013
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In all honesty it seems like Apple aren’t making much headway when it comes to the smart speaker entry they’ve attempted. HomePod sounds great for sure but it just doesn’t seem like it’s selling and when it does sell it seems to be leaving people super disappointed at its lack of abilities. iPod Hi-Fi flopped, the 5C sold but was a one off phenomenon. (Yes there are probably arguements against that statement but don’t get lost in the pedantic I’m asking if you all think the HomePod is going to be a long lasting product that Apple actively pays attention to selling and updating)

Does anyone else think this might be a two cycle product that’ll get dropped after maybe one iterative update? I just don’t feel like there’s any longevity in the continuation in the product line until a major overhaul of Siri and the Apple/Google relationships and I don’t see that happening in time for a HomePod 2.0 to be released.
 
Homepod is a truly stonking product that Apple should be very proud of as its sounds so fantastic (especially as a stereo pair)!

The only people complaining about Siri are the ones looking for excuses to their buyers remorse as I have no issue with Siri and works vey well as intended as an Apple Music Assistant. Siri reads and sends messages, phone calls, timers, weather, news (and more) so not sure what more it could do.

I find I'm always shouting at Alexa on the Echo Dot which is just not good for the soul while Siri on HomePod is much more attentive......

I think there are plenty of things Apple could develop to enhance HomePod especially with MacOS and iOS merging and Apple's new TV service in the future. Additionally Siri will only get better as Apple subscription services grow their assistant needs to get better with them.

I feel HomePod has a great future.
 
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It would certainly be sad if they did, one of the best products Apple has made and still improving
 
The product doesn't need to be discontinued. It needs other cheaper versions, heck maybe even a more expensive model too. Apple needs to get something out there to compete with the Dot. I suspect the reason they haven't done this yet is because they are just counting on people using their watch/phone to use Siri. I think that is something that often gets overlooked when talking about how dominate Amazon and Google have been. People aren't realizing that everyone with an iPhone, Watch, iPad, or MacBook already have Siri built in ready to go.

Sorry that was more of a tangent than I intended, but basically I think they will expand the product range before they abandon it.
 
Mercury7 said:
It would certainly be sad if they did, one of the best products Apple has made and still improving
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I'd say HomePod is the best Apple product since iPad in 2010.

I hope they release a smaller and cheaper version similar to the Echo and really hope we get a bigger more expensive sound bar similar to the Naim Mu-so that could even contan Apple TV?
 
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The only problem with HomePod is Siri, which isn’t as clever as the other assistants. But fortunately Siri is software and it can be updated, hardware is excellent so I don’t think that Apple would ditch the HomePod soon.
 
$329 was way too expensive, regardless of how good it sounds, when the competition was $150-$200 less.

$299 is where it should have started. $279 would be been even better. I might have bought one at that price. But at $329 (I know it’s $299 now), I would rather just buy a Sonos One, skip the Siri, and gotten more smart features (programmable music/audio alarms, more audio services, etc).

The Sonos’ programmable audio alarms alone are fantastic. Not only can my smart home be set to vacation mode (randomized lights and lowered thermostat), but my Sonos speaker can be programmed at different times to play audio from sources like CNN or SiriusXM to make it sound like people are home, too. Even the Amazon Echo can be set to do something similar (though with 3rd party Alexa apps). The HomePod, afaik, cannot do this.
 
I'd be tempted to pick up a pair for music for $400. So unless they can be found on sale for $200, I'd pass. I would only use them as speakers. Siri is too stupid to bother with & I don't use that kind of voice assistance tech often.
 
No, to answer the original post. Apple created HP for Apple Music and HomeKit.

After buying one, I began selling my stereo equipment. Then I bought another on sale. Stereo is excellent. I can tell Siri what to play and my wishes are met. Simple, easy and she turns my lights off and on.

If you are expecting more, look else where. HP is not for you.
 
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gazwas said:
I'd say HomePod is the best Apple product since iPad in 2010.

I hope they release a smaller and cheaper version similar to the Echo and really hope we get a bigger more expensive sound bar similar to the Naim Mu-so that could even contan Apple TV?
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I like my HomePod too, but better than the Watch? Really?
 
dagored said:
No, to answer the original post. Apple created HP for Apple Music and HomeKit.

After buying one, I began selling my stereo equipment. Then I bought another on sale. Stereo is excellent. I can tell Siri what to play and my wishes are met. Simple, easy and she turns my lights off and on.

If you are expecting more, look else where. HP is not for you.
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Improve or die, one constant in tech. Never heard someone argue that lower expectations are a good thing.
 
Either they open it up, or belly up is the only way for this speaker.

They have been there with the Boombox,
1a3dee6069afcfa6ae1c71297cdc7ac07f003b5f_0.jpg

excellent quality and sound, but limited to iPod, now they have the same quality and sound value,but limited to Siri / Apple music.

The price is high but not the major issue, open it up(sowftware wise) and see sale soaring!
 
YaBe said:
Either they open it up, or belly up is the only way for this speaker.

They have been there with the Boombox,
1a3dee6069afcfa6ae1c71297cdc7ac07f003b5f_0.jpg

excellent quality and sound, but limited to iPod, now they have the same quality and sound value,but limited to Siri / Apple music.

The price is high but not the major issue, open it up(sowftware wise) and see sale soaring!
Click to expand...

It’s nothing like the the iPod Hi-Fi!

That relied on you owning all your own music purchased or ripped into iTunes, you had a Mac computer and owned an iPod. HomePod couldn’t be further from that situation.

Its designed to work with Apple’s music streaming service and designed to deliver that content with a very high quality optimised sound.
 
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gazwas said:
It’s nothing like the the iPod Hi-Fi!

That relied on you owning all your own music purchased or ripped into iTunes, you had a Mac computer and owned an iPod. HomePod couldn’t be further from that situation.

Its designed to work with Apple’s music streaming service and designed to deliver that content with a very high quality optimised sound.
Click to expand...
My point is, one failed because it was tied to the iPod, the other one will fail because tied to Apple Services only.

One was designed to work with Apple’s music HARDWARE (ONLY iPod....also because there were no services like A.M. back then) to deliver that content with a very high quality optimised sound.

The other is designed to work with Apple’s music streaming service (only Apple ones) and designed to deliver that content with a very high quality optimised sound.

And I quote myself : "Open it up(software wise) and see sale soaring!"

But we can agree to disagree.
 
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firewire9000 said:
I read it and I still assuming my assumption. You can assume that I didn’t read it but don’t make so many assumptions about that assume.
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I am not going to assume what you assume that I assume you must be assuming. Your assumption that I assume these assumptions is just ridiculous, I assume.
 
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No, it will not.

HomePod might seem like an unimportant product right now and Siri might not seem up to the task yet but AI and conversational computing is the future of computing and Apple will need a home platform to run it. So even if they’re losing money, they’ll continue to build up the user base and iterate on Siri.

Remember, Apple Watch seemed like a small side business but in only 4 years, it’s trending towards being Apple’s most important product after the iPhone has peaked. The ideal UI for AppleWatch is through voice, as is AirPods, as will be Apple’s AR Glasses.

Apple has been putting a very priority on rebuilding Siri from the ground up, pouring resources, hiring experts (poaching their biggest hire from Google) and Siri has gotten noticeably better already. HomePod is virtually perfect hardwarewise, and Apple has been steadily building a user base. When Siri takes a leap forward, all those HomePods will instantly become intelligent assistants around our home.

And one last point, Apple has not been abandoning HomePod. They’ve been improving it on better than an annual cycle. If you own one, you’ll certainly know from experience that there’s a big team behind Siri because improvements to Siri on HomePod have been coming in frequently with popular culture and news events filtering through to HomePod’s ability to answer, in real time.
 
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