Imaginary numbers again. Pretty sure that if Homepod sold anywhere near 15M units it would still be in production. LOL.
The puny Sonos corp continues to sell its premium smart speaker (the One) long after the Homepod has been put to pasture. FACT.
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HomePod HomePod Discontinued... Discussion.
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The puny Sonos corp continues to sell its premium smart speaker (the One) long after the Homepod has been put to pasture. FACT.
If it was built for audiophiles, it would have allowed for stereo pairing right away (that feature was added later) and be sold in pairs. Do you know any audiophiles who want to listen to a mono speaker? I don't.
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Well I remember watching the keynote where HomeKit was promoted so I’m not wrong with my point at all. The fact neither you or Boltjames has been able to provide a source to prove the HomePod was marketed at audiophiles speaks volumes, excuse the pun.
I think the price of the HomePod meant that only audiophiles or extreme Apple fans would buy it. However I don’t think this was Apple’s intention when they made it and put it on the market. I think they were targeting at anyone within the Apple ecosystem. I think that they felt that it would be attractive to iPhone users as a whole. If they were only targeting it to audiophiles from the start then they wouldn’t have been disappointed by sales and they wouldn’t be discontinuing it. They clearly wanted to take a bite out of the market and didn’t.
I was planning to go all in with the HomePod. I already had an original and purchased 2 minis. I gave away my echos and google home devices. However with Apple announcing that they are discontinuing the HomePod and the lack, coupled with the lack of progress with Siri and the HomePod since it launched I’m not confident about Apple’s future in this market. Additionally, not having any other devices but homepods has really show up the shortcomings of the HomePod. I don’t think I’ll buy anymore homepods in there current state. I‘ve purchased 2 echo devices and 2 google home devices.
This is exactly the way I see it. Considering the amount of Apple users out there, the intention in my mind was to aim this product at every conceivable customer within their base. I think personally the hope was Apple customers would simply opt for a HomePod rather than a cheap Echo and absorb the cost because Apple products ‘cost more anyway’. This hasn’t happened to any great degree and now they are focussing on the smaller and cheaper variant as a result. You’re right, if it was purely aimed at audiophiles, 15M units sold would be a big success and it wouldn’t have been binned.
Me being right or wrong doesn’t depend on anybody else specifically though. Maybe I’m right on my own merit by interpreting the outcome of this products life cycle?
The Homepod always had a very narrow market - extreme Apple fan who was willing to pay a premium for a better sounding smart speaker that is Homekit enabled.
Perhaps they thought that they could duplicate the airpods' success. The difference is that many with an iPhone need earbuds and will pay a premium for Apple brand. However, far fewer people need a Homekit enabled smart speaker, but for those who do a $100 mini is sufficient even with its inferior sound quality (compared to Homepod).
Perhaps withe the success of the Mini, and improvements with Siri, Apple can develop a proper home AV system that ties in Apple TV.
This is exactly why I bought 9 HomePods to sprinkle around my house. A good sounding speaker that has HomeKit functionality and the deep Apple ecosystem integration of course. Wasn’t looking to massage my ears drums. However, I did long for a Mini HomePod to place in areas where a regular HomePod would be overkill and I have 9 of those too.
Speaking of AirPods, I always considered them to be portable HomePods lol.
You and Boltjames must own half the Homepods produced!
LMAO... I love the HomePod, I really do. I’m not an audiophile by any means and it does everything I need/want it to do. Very nice aesthetic too, IMO.
However, unlike boltjames, I know a failed product when I see it. It didn’t fail because it was bad. It failed because people didn’t buy into it.
Looking at stock levels, they either under-estimated the popularity of the space gray color, or made more white units.
I’m sure it has to do with the fear of white mesh fabric material looking more dirty over time. I like the white, but I’d never get one. Not even sure how to clean it without possibly fraying or discoloring the material.
I would think the lighter material would look cleaner in terms of not showing dust as obviously.
Depends on the dust I suppose, which can be composed of anything fine enough to let the air move and settle it. Anyways the only dust I ever notice on my Space Gray HomePods is on the displays but that wiped off easy with a microfiber cloth. The mesh looks brand new still and I never touched them. Never agreed with people when they say white gets dirty faster. White doesn’t get dirty faster. They get dirty at the same rate lol. It just shows faster. I can see a white HomePod in a kitchen looking bad after a few years though. Cooking oils and food grease evaporating into the air and then settling when cooled. Had the stuff remove paint from my cabinets in my old house.
3 is enough for me and I won’t be buying anymore. Not now that Apple seem to not be committed to the market.
I just re- purchased some echos and Google home devices.
I agree with this. My white HomePod is badly discoloured now but this due to having two small children who were constantly touching it with chocolate on their hands and other things. There’s only so much that can be cleaned off. I’ve now put it inside a cover which doesn’t effect the sound quality. Surprisingly enough I’ve always had white smart speakers in my kitchen and they’ve stayed clean. This is because my kids don’t have access to them in the kitchen.
I hear that. I have a 5 and 7 year old and constantly have to keep an eye to make sure they don’t mess with my tech lol. They each have a HomePod Mini in their room and I taught them how to use Siri instead of handling it with their grimy booger fingers lol.
Who really knows what the future holds for Apple and smart speakers but I don’t know if I’d say they’re not committed. I see the HomePod Mini sticking around for a while. They’re selling like hot cakes and the latest rumors say Apple is working on an Echo Show type HomePod and display combo. Hopefully they continue to support the HomePod thru software which may or may not be the case. I’m pretty happy with where it is now with features though. The intercom is fantastic and something I’ve been hoping for, for a while.
Was it you, some time ago, maybe half a year or so, making a thread about intercom? Username looks familiar.
It could have been me.
intercom is fine but nothin that the Alexa or the Google home devices can’t do. In fact the echo devices work better as they allow a full blown conversation rather than messages back and forth.
my husband had his covid jab the other day. He was feeling unwell afterwards. I went to work. He’d stopped replying to messages and I couldn’t get him on the phone. Obviously he’d had the covid vaccine so I was worried about him. In the end I used the echo drop in feature and I was able to see that he was ok.
Back to Siri and the homepods. There seems to have been a lack of improvement to Siri over the past few years and apart from intercom the homepods are stagnant. They haven’t really caught up to the other smart speakers on the market. I’m not completely out as I have 3 homepods and will carry on using them. If Apple does anything compelling in the area then I will invest in more.
Although I am not replacing mine anytime soon, the long delays and lack of responsiveness over time have made it less useful than it once was. It still works great for Apple Music but not so much for controlling lights, weather and such.
Let's not get caught up in semantics.
An audiophile has one great stereo system set up in his living room or listening room. But he's got bedrooms, bathrooms, he's got an office, he has a summer home, he has a pool. HomePod is an audiophile's accessory, a replacement for the old Bose Wave Radio or that old JVC Executive Mini-System. "Hey Siri, play mellow rock radio" and on comes Fleetwood Mac next to his treadmill and it sounds really good, what an audiophile would expect and enjoy.
For an audiophile looking for a compact solution for secondary rooms in his life, HomePod is exactly what he's looking for. It's both the best sounding "smart speaker" (if one leans in the Alexa direction) and the best sounding "compact stereo system" (if one leans in the Bose direction). No one is saying that it's a replacement for a massive component system. Clear?
Not imaginary. Do your own research. I did.
Apple is one of the world's biggest corporations and, to them, HomePod is a minor accessory. To Sonos, a struggling company which Apple trumped with a single sku, it means everything. Apple can pause HomePod due to the chip shortage, let Mini have its day without internal competition, and bring out HomePod Max in 2022 or 2023. Those who wanted a HomePod, have one. 15,000,000 units means they're easy to find.