HomePod HomePod Discontinued... Discussion.

[boltjames]

No one wants one. There are much better products out there. You made a poor decision buying 5 units of a discontinued, dead product.

With sales in the neighborhood of 15M units and revenue of $4.5 billion dollars? LOL, that is a massive success by any measure. Sonos, as a reminder, does the same $1.5 billion in sales per year as HomePod and that's with dozens of different products, installations, accessories, etc. Do not forget the impact to Apple Music, the biggest streaming music entity in the United States, which overtook Spotify during the HomePod's first two years.

Apple dropped HomePod temporarily to redesign it. Look for it to launch in 2022 or 2023 alongside Apple Music Lossless. Until then? HomePod is still the best streaming speaker in the world. Apple did a great job. They're going for $500 each on eBay too.

 

[AEWest]

With sales in the neighborhood of 15M units and revenue of $4.5 billion dollars? LOL, that is a massive success by any measure. Sonos, as a reminder, does the same $1.5 billion in sales per year as HomePod and that's with dozens of different products, installations, accessories, etc. Do not forget the impact to Apple Music, the biggest streaming music entity in the United States, which overtook Spotify during the HomePod's first two years.

Apple dropped HomePod temporarily to redesign it. Look for it to launch in 2022 or 2023 alongside Apple Music Lossless. Until then? HomePod is still the best streaming speaker in the world. Apple did a great job. They're going for $500 each on eBay too.

LOL. The very best speaker ever that flopped. Interesting that they supposedly sold more than Sonos, yet Sonos still makes theirs. Funny that.

Check out whathifi for the list of the best streaming speakers in the world. Hint: not Homepod, Sonos, Bose or Sony.

 

[mikeb71]

With sales in the neighborhood of 15M units and revenue of $4.5 billion dollars? LOL, that is a massive success by any measure. Sonos, as a reminder, does the same $1.5 billion in sales per year as HomePod and that's with dozens of different products, installations, accessories, etc. Do not forget the impact to Apple Music, the biggest streaming music entity in the United States, which overtook Spotify during the HomePod's first two years.

Apple dropped HomePod temporarily to redesign it. Look for it to launch in 2022 or 2023 alongside Apple Music Lossless. Until then? HomePod is still the best streaming speaker in the world. Apple did a great job. They're going for $500 each on eBay too.

Here we go again. Where are these numbers coming from (link please). Are you sure that these are 'sales' rather than 'shipped'?

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

With sales in the neighborhood of 15M units and revenue of $4.5 billion dollars? LOL, that is a massive success by any measure. Sonos, as a reminder, does the same $1.5 billion in sales per year as HomePod and that's with dozens of different products, installations, accessories, etc. Do not forget the impact to Apple Music, the biggest streaming music entity in the United States, which overtook Spotify during the HomePod's first two years.

Apple dropped HomePod temporarily to redesign it. Look for it to launch in 2022 or 2023 alongside Apple Music Lossless. Until then? HomePod is still the best streaming speaker in the world. Apple did a great job. They're going for $500 each on eBay too.

Can you share a link to where this 15M sales is being quoted from? You’ve repeated this throughout this thread and I can’t find any data online that even mentions this figure. You haven’t provided a link and I believe you’ve been asked a few times now.

The best I can find is 3.5m by the end of 2018 but that was suggested as being 1.8m in terms of shipped devices. Then I saw in 2020 they had a very poor period where only 1.6m were shipped.

Where are you getting the 15m units sold figure from?

 

[827538]

Really think Apple should have updated it with 802.11ax and the U1 chip and cut the price to $230. It's a great device and I really like using mine. Sound quality is excellent for its size.

 

[Itinj24]

Really think Apple should have updated it with 802.11ax and the U1 chip and cut the price to $230. It's a great device and I really like using mine. Sound quality is excellent for its size.

Of course. That would seem like the logical thing to do… for a product that didn’t completely fail lol. That’s basically what Apple does with all their successful products. I would’ve loved to have seen a refresh of this device. I think it’s great too but I guess Apple decided to cut their losses short. Personally, I think what would’ve helped the most is Bluetooth streaming or 3rd party streaming apps right out the gate, or shortly thereafter. It’s an expensive streaming device that couldn’t do much streaming. Apple got greedy and tried reeling everyone in to Apple Music. My opinion of course.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Still no answer on the missing link to back up this claim of 15m HomePods sold @boltjames??

 

[robjulo]

With sales in the neighborhood of 15M units and revenue of $4.5 billion dollars? LOL, that is a massive success by any measure. Sonos, as a reminder, does the same $1.5 billion in sales per year as HomePod and that's with dozens of different products, installations, accessories, etc. Do not forget the impact to Apple Music, the biggest streaming music entity in the United States, which overtook Spotify during the HomePod's first two years.

Apple dropped HomePod temporarily to redesign it. Look for it to launch in 2022 or 2023 alongside Apple Music Lossless. Until then? HomePod is still the best streaming speaker in the world. Apple did a great job. They're going for $500 each on eBay too.

You are making numbers up. They aren't "redesigning" anything, another made up assertion. It is also not the best streaming speaker in the world. It lost or tied in blind testing (even testing done by Apple shills) and it's services are extremely limited compared to any competition. Just loud wrong, again.

 

[I7guy]

[...] It lost or tied in blind testing (even testing done by Apple shills) and it's services are extremely limited compared to any competition. Just loud wrong, again.

Have a citation for multiple blind tests of smartspeakers where Homepod lost?Want to make sure this information is being cherry-picked.

 

[I7guy]

Can you share a link to where this 15M sales is being quoted from? You’ve repeated this throughout this thread and I can’t find any data online that even mentions this figure. You haven’t provided a link and I believe you’ve been asked a few times now.

The best I can find is 3.5m by the end of 2018 but that was suggested as being 1.8m in terms of shipped devices. Then I saw in 2020 they had a very poor period where only 1.6m were shipped.

Where are you getting the 15m units sold figure from?

Tough to get a bead on the numbers. https://www.patentlyapple.com/paten...ke-smart-speakers-from-amazon-and-google.html

 

[robjulo]

Have a citation for multiple blind tests of smartspeakers where Homepod lost?Want to make sure this information is being cherry-picked.

I'm sure you know how to use google.....but here you go.

https://pogueman.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F170722337727

 

[I7guy]

I'm sure you know how to use google.....but here you go.

https://pogueman.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F170722337727

One test, certainly enough to make a sweeping generalization.

And just to clarify something.

 

[robjulo]

One test, certainly enough to make a sweeping generalization.

And just to clarify something.

View attachment 1765044

I don't need anything clarified. Why don't you ask boltjames (after you involved yourself into the discussion) to back his 15m sales assertion up, as he's been asked a number of times.

I'll sit and wait while you address that issue...oh wait...you didn't and won't. Conveniently, it was only the non-pro Apple post you decided to jump on. Shocker.

 

[I7guy]

I don't need anything clarified. Why don't you ask boltjames (after you involved yourself into the discussion) to back his 15m sales assertion up, as he's been asked a number of times.

I'll sit and wait while you address that issue...oh wait...you didn't and won't. Conveniently, it was only the non-pro Apple post you decided to jump on. Shocker.

HomePod Discontinued... Discussion.

Tough to get a bead on the numbers. https://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2020/02/apples-homepod-grew-65-year-over-year-in-q4-2019-within-a-sea-of-toy-like-smart-speakers-from-amazon-and-google.html

forums.macrumors.com

Obviously there needs to be some clarification, which is why I posted the "rules for appropriate debate". Your one article is just that, an opinion. Now if there were a string of blogs saying the same thing, there would be something else to say about the topic.

My post has nothing to do with Boltjames post, which is nothing more than a deflection. But if your are happy with your source and conclusion, who am I to say your opinion is wrong. (Maybe a bad opinion, but not a wrong one)

 

[robjulo]

HomePod Discontinued... Discussion.

Tough to get a bead on the numbers. https://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2020/02/apples-homepod-grew-65-year-over-year-in-q4-2019-within-a-sea-of-toy-like-smart-speakers-from-amazon-and-google.html

forums.macrumors.com

Obviously there needs to be some clarification, which is why I posted the "rules for appropriate debate". Your one article is just that, an opinion. Now if there were a string of blogs saying the same thing, there would be something else to say about the topic.

My post has nothing to do with Boltjames post, which is nothing more than a deflection. But if your are happy with your source and conclusion, who am I to say your opinion is wrong. (Maybe a bad opinion, but not a wrong one)

There needed no clarification. And again, if you are so worried about the rules, then apply that to boltjames as well (you won't).

And there are other tests as well....take five minutes from defending Apple in every thread you can, and do a quick google search, took me 10 seconds to find one. Now, move along and stop trolling.

 

[I7guy]

There needed no clarification. And again, if you are so worried about the rules, then apply that to boltjames as well (you won't).

And there are other tests as well....take five minutes from defending Apple in every thread you can, and do a quick google search, took me 10 seconds to find one. Now, move along and stop trolling.

I don't care about the number as much as the sound quality. Hence the response to this post. You are certainly welcome to take up your question with BoltJames, or report the post. I answered on the side, thinking the number may not be that far off from as much of the truth as can be gleaned from the internet.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Tough to get a bead on the numbers. https://www.patentlyapple.com/paten...ke-smart-speakers-from-amazon-and-google.html

Thanks for trying. Yeah it’s a lot of guesswork to get a definite figure and whatever it is it’s poor in relation to the competition. I can see why Apple chose to re-focus on their strategy in this segment.

@boltjames has made the claim about 15m on several occasions, so I’d be interested in his sources as he’s asserted this figure with a lot of confidence. The revenue figure matching these sales numbers is also something which would be good to see a source for. Still waiting and i’ll keep asking.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I have a stereo pair right now (only a few weeks in - had 3 at one point but it was causing too much hassle)

Enjoyable product mostly, but way overpriced - if I hadn't gotten into these for under $300 total, I'd feel like I overpaid.

Siri is still just a laughing mess of "usually kind of works correctly"

If Costco does the sale on the Sonos SL set of 2 again (was down to $250-ish at one point) I'll probably switch to those as I could tie it in with a Sonos sound bar in the future.

I've learned that the voice assistant part of these products is barely useful to me (too limited and frustrating so often).

 

[Td1970]

Still no answer on the missing link to back up this claim of 15m HomePods sold @boltjames??

He can’t. Made up numbers

 

[MrTSolar]

His numbers were probably quantity shipped. If you go to an Apple Store and buy a HomePod right now (if one is in stock), I guarantee you it was made over two years ago. My two “New” HomePods came with OS 11 and updated straight to 14.3.

The HomePod still competes above the smart speaker market I think. No Echo or Google Home is going to shake the house like a pair of HomePods will.

As for Siri, the HomePod beats the crap out of the Apple Watch version of Siri, which can seemingly only call people correctly. On the Watch, Messaging sucks, Home commands can’t find accessories, it can’t set reminders, and half the time can’t play music (or the correct music). HomePod does, and can do it from another room.

 

[827538]

Of course. That would seem like the logical thing to do… for a product that didn’t completely fail lol. That’s basically what Apple does with all their successful products. I would’ve loved to have seen a refresh of this device. I think it’s great too but I guess Apple decided to cut their losses short. Personally, I think what would’ve helped the most is Bluetooth streaming or 3rd party streaming apps right out the gate, or shortly thereafter. It’s an expensive streaming device that couldn’t do much streaming. Apple got greedy and tried reeling everyone in to Apple Music. My opinion of course.

Yeh I think they also really need to put a lot more resources into Siri and accelerating its development.

I think it's a sort of slow burn type of product that it's good for Apple to have and get into peoples home even if it's not going to take over. Also I forgot to mention I would have also liked to have seen Thread included in an update.

I'm still happy with mine even if they've discontinued it as it hasn't lost any use or functionality.

 

[boltjames]

Here we go again. Where are these numbers coming from (link please). Are you sure that these are 'sales' rather than 'shipped'?

See the first few pages of this thread for a detailed explanation, we went through this last summer. Apple doesn't release official aggregated numbers, but its not hard to estimate based on:

1. Certain quarters where reporting was done either by Apple, insiders, or their factories.
2. Global market share of HomePod during its 3 year run.
3. Articles by IoT and audio publications touting Apple outselling Sonos for a given time period.

One can extrapolate that with XX units sold in QX that over the course of the 12 quarters of its existence Apple sold XX units. One can take total units sold for the smart speaker industry and extrapolate for HomePod's ~5% market share. Once can see what Sonos' volume was for a given quarter where a publication confirmed that Apple sold more than the Sonos corporation and extrapolate from there.

That ultimately leads to a strong estimate of 15M units at an average retail of $300 or $4.5B dollars in the 3 year run of HomePod.

 

[boltjames]

The revenue figure matching these sales numbers is also something which would be good to see a source for. Still waiting and i’ll keep asking.

Apologies, I don't check this forum every week. Hopefully the logic explained in my prior thread will suffice. I took an hour back in the summer to come up with the sources and numbers, just didn't document it, didn't think it was necessary.

I don't understand what the difference is anyway. If HomePod sold 10M units or 15M units or 30M units, doesn't really matter. It did billions of dollars in volume. At ~5% market share, its as "big" as Apple TV (2%) or OSX (6%). Apple isn't about world domination. Even iPhone is small (14%) within the smartphone market. Same for Apple Music (18%) within the streaming business. Apple is a niche player in consumer electronics. They make expensive product for the luxury crowd. Mid-single digit market share for a $300+ smart speaker tied to a singular ecosystem is very good.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Apologies, I don't check this forum every week. Hopefully the logic explained in my prior thread will suffice. I took an hour back in the summer to come up with the sources and numbers, just didn't document it, didn't think it was necessary.

I don't understand what the difference is anyway. If HomePod sold 10M units or 15M units or 30M units, doesn't really matter. It did billions of dollars in volume. At ~5% market share, its as "big" as Apple TV (2%) or OSX (6%). Apple isn't about world domination. Even iPhone is small (14%) within the smartphone market. Same for Apple Music (18%) within the streaming business. Apple is a niche player in consumer electronics. They make expensive product for the luxury crowd. Mid-single digit market share for a $300+ smart speaker tied to a singular ecosystem is very good.

Where is this prior thread, link?

 

[boltjames]

Where is this prior thread, link?

Prior post, the other one I posted last night.