Somebody please pin this comment here. Everyone trying to discuss about the HomePods should read it.
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HomePod Firmware Reveals Further Details on Apple's Smart Speaker
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Somebody please pin this comment here. Everyone trying to discuss about the HomePods should read it.
I'm going to buy a HomePod, but I wish it would also double as an AppleTV5. No reason it can't and for $349 it would then be insanely cheap!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Wow. Please pass the koolaid.
Apple has used their genius to create a speaker that directly competes with a $40,000 speaker and they are selling theirs for <1% of that price??? Let's see...
- Apple makes Macs which compete with PCs and Apple charges MORE for their Macs
- Apple makes iPhones which compete with Galaxy, etc. and charges MORE for their phone
- Apple makes iPads which compete with various tablets made by others and Apple charges MORE for their iPad
- Apple make
TV which competes with various other STBs and Apple charges MORE for their STB
If it is as you say, Apple could charge $4,000 for it and still be 90% cheaper than it's direct competition (as you've defined it). But looking at the relative pricing of everything else Apple makes, it seems Apple's cut of a $40,000 speaker should be priced at about $55,000 instead of $349.
I like Apple as much as anyone but let's get real here. None of us or anyone outside of Apple HQ has even got to evaluate this product "in the wild." Our entire judgement of how "breakthrough" this is is coming from Apple marketing spin (the same group that uses the word "magical" in marketing descriptions) and a few Apple-invited pre-release, "reviewers" who got a few minutes with it in an Apple-controlled environment listening to Apple-selected audio on it. There's no objectivity in that.
In a controlled environment and leaning solely on marketing messaging you can fool anyone. For example...
Before we crown this a $40,000 speaker killer... or a $2,000 speaker killer... or a Sonos speaker killer or even an Echo killer, how about we at least get some genuinely objective reviews first and/or maybe actually hear one of these with our own ears? It could be another DJ in disguise as an expensive financial advisor.
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I guess that's a Trumpification from yr part:
http://www.watch-insider.com/news/i...he-swiss-watch-industry-really-be-in-trouble/
https://www.google.nl/amp/s/www.cultofmac.com/309512/jony-ive-called-swiss-made-watches-trouble/amp/
https://www.technobezz.com/jony-ive-statement-about-swiss-watch-is-in-trouble-is-true/
http://macdailynews.com/2015/10/23/...*-as-apple-watch-designer-jony-ive-predicted/
Www.digitaltrends.com/wearables/jony-ive-iwatch-is-super-cool-could-disrupt-watch-industry/amp/
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Sorry, but there is a few more things going on in various market segments than your oneliner analysis covers:
www.theverge.com/platform/amp/circuitbreaker/2017/5/9/15584234/smartwatch-mechanical-martenero-omega-frederique-constant
And your statement better be reversed: there is a HomePod competitor while actually there is no HomePod (...)
You must be unaware about the (design) original where Apple got its HomePod inspiration from =>
LOVE THE HEADLINE FROM 2016: "This voice-controlled speaker looks like something Apple would design"
(but let me guess: "they were too early, that's coincidence, Apple matured the idea, Ive exclusively owns minimalistic design, they should be sued because they copied Apple's idea in advance etc. etc."
I hear those twisted brains working...)
Where can I buy it? Oh wait I can't. Also it's $500. Does it have auto room detection? How's the audio quality?
This is FAR from a HomePod competitor.
I foresee the $350 HomePod failing as hard as the iPod—which I was right about. Don't deny facts. The iPod failed. They CANCELLED the product and the product line is dead. I win. You lose.
Gee man, you're only slightly difficult...
Chances are that HomePod is better, which I'll agree, as soon as it launches (but until that moment, Whyd has no competition from Apple because HomePod doesn't exist...)
The design/idea was simply stolen (/plagiarised by Ive) so it be better referenced as WhydPod (or, in due course, WaitPod)
Happy hiking - waiting for WhydPod
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Agreed! I can’t imagine they’d be dumb enough to release this thing without supporting AirPlay which would allow you to stream anything you can listen to in iTunes or on your iOS devices but if that’s the case I’m out as well.
I’ll can’t imagine that I’ll ever sign up for a music streaming service. I was in my late teens when MP3s first became a thing and had already spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on CD's. I’ve got a library that’s plenty large and there’s not enough new music that I like to justify $9.99 per month. I never buy more than a couple of new songs per month and most months I don’t buy anything at all. I can’t remember the last time I spent more than $9.99 in a given month on music.
I just hope that Apple doesn’t pull the plug on users like me trying to force a subscription to Apple Music but given Apple’s history some day they probably will and if/when that day comes I’m done with their echo system as it relates to music.
So there isn't a HomePod competitor then. You linked an overpriced speaker that you can't buy and doesn't have all the features of a HomePod.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
My situation is exactly like yours.
Apple could have finalized design earlier and thus be able to order the displays earlier to create a supply buffer. Now they are holding back features to spread out between 3 models.
And your comment about Apple not having their own supply factories just highlights the fact that competitors can get their speaker parts from the same place Apple does. So if Apple is trying to sell their HomePod as a premium sounding experience, others can just as easily improve their sound experience too. Now Apple has nothing unique about the HomePod except Siri.
While it is incredibly hard to create amazing products, I would argue that it is even harder to reliably keep pushing out market-defining products. Once the standards and expectations have been set, you need to become even more selective about what you choose to release and what not. Basically, Apple's margin for error gets smaller.
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The iPod did not fail. It carved out market share for Apple and finally got integrated into the iPhone. Unless the HomePod gets integrated into more complex stuff like furniture, it likely won't be a failure either.
Find someone to explain you the difference between temporary sold-out and nonexistent
How many OLED screened Galaxys does Samsung sell, compared to the projected sales for the iPhone 8?
Agreed. This is why WWDC and not the Fall hardware announcements are my favorite; it's that your investment in beautiful hardware actually increases over time with free software releases. The HomePod is an iOS device and that means it has great potential to do more than it will on initial release. And because of iOS 11 -- my next primary home computer will be an iPad Pro. Sure, I'll always have a work provided MacBook Pro but at home I want to let go of the mouse and have a touch-based experience on a fast, light, connected device that can control my smart home, access my various cloud sources and media.
What universe are you living in? The iPod failed?? How??? It changed the entire market and led Apple to create iTunes and a new business model for music that made it BILLIONS. And that is a failure? What business school did you go to?
The only iPod to be cancelled its the nano and shuffle because technology advances in the iPhone made them duplicative products. The iPod touch is still there and selling.
Constructive criticism and analysis is good and entertaining but pulling statements out of your keister without any critical thought is just a waste of time.
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The problem with your analysis is you cannot have unique screens. Simple as that if your product is going to have a screen you have 1-3 choices. No company will innovate in that space. Apple innovates with its superior CPU (SOC) and engineering of the body and form factor.
Now to your point about securing their own production lines ---- look at their investment through LG to get dedicated production lines for iPhone and Apple. That is the smart way to do it and cost effective. Also look to Apple investing in TSMC to secure their capabilities to produce Apple designed chips and GPUs. There is where the Apple uniqueness lies.
The defining portable music player of a decade+ was a failure? ROFL! You probably think the Walkman was a failure too...
Then you don't understand what it is which makes Apple products unique.
Apple sells great hardware differentiated by unique software, which it uses to justify the premiums it charges.
Yes, given time, someone could probably reverse engineer the homepod's design and reproduce it part for part, but they will still not be able to replicate the software aspect of it, much less make the software and hardware work together as seamlessly as Apple can. And it's increasingly clear at least that the homepod is relying on iOS and the A8 processor to improve and augment the sound quality somehow. Take that away and all you have is a pale imitation which won't sound as good.
It's like how people can make a phone which looks exactly like the iPhone, but because they can't replicate iOS, it's not going to run as smoothly as an iPhone. It's not going to integrate with the rest of my Apple products. It's not going to sport the ios App Store. It's not going to support iMessage. Touch ID is not going to have the secure enclave in the A10 processor. It's not going to support my Apple Watch. It will likely still run android at the end of the day, and that makes all the difference.
You can replicate the form of the homepod, but you will not be able to replicate its unique user experience. Apple knows this, and they have nothing to fear from third-rate copycats.
It may be the greatest speaker for it's size ever, but people are looking for something else. Most people already know what Alexa and Google Home is, and what they can do as far as being a voice activated entertainment system. Most people also aren't anything near being audiophiles, so if you go beyond a certain level of price it's not sound quality that dominates people's decisions.
If sound quality was the determining factor then LaserDiscs would have beaten both VHS and Beta, and if not that, then Beta should have beaten VHS. 8 track and not cassettes should have been the tape format of choice. When it comes to the general public, they look at price first in most items. Apple beat most companies to the punch in usable downloadable music, and iTunes was legal and easy to access in the early 2000's. Without those advantages I don't know how many people would have paid a premium to buy an Apple product then, even if it was demonstrably better. The HomePod may face that problem now, without being first to market.
Truly astonishing (but still really sad) how many here believe, despite strong hints to the contrary, that HomePod is going to be just another speaker for playing/streaming music, similar to the Apple HiFi of ten years ago. Must be awful living life without imagination or knowledge to draw from.
Yeah, I have several Sonos speakers and I'm hoping the HomePod at least matches Sonos Play:3 quality, and is a big hit, to drive the latter to actually innovate. I may switch depending on the early reviews. Though it would be hard to switch from Spotify, Sonos has been very buggy as of late. I can barely use Spotify from the Spotify app at times, and have to revert to the ugly Sonos controller.