HomePod Firmware Reveals Further Details on Apple's Smart Speaker

[Wildkraut]

I doubt it will tremble my walls, and make me feel the beats down to the bones, like my 1000watts Sony Home Theatre Entertainment System.

We also had a ATV, but sent it back because my kids were constantly screwing up each other's save games.
PS4 to the rescue, with a decent multiuser support.

I bet this Homepod will have serious multiuser issues, too.
In other words, a not family friendly device in your living room(multiuser), like ATV.

 

[ct2k7]

If I could just play audio from an Apple TV, with the Apple TV being hooked up to my TV, that’d be nice.

 

[chineseguy38]

How many OLED screened Galaxys does Samsung sell, compared to the projected sales for the iPhone 8?

You know the iPhone 8 sales forecast?
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Catch up to whom, specifically?

The wearables market, where Jawbone is folding, Pebble sold to Fitbit (who isn't doing so great themselves) and Android Wear is nowhere to be seen?

The AR market, whom Apple is set to leapfrog come iOS 11?

The music streaming market, where the incumbent, Spotify, has yet to turn a profit?

Who exactly is Apple lagging behind in again?

New features and functionality. Not sales figures.

 

[Crzyrio]

They blatantly ripped off the Harmon/Kardon Wireless 360 Speaker. That's not innovation.

Lol what? How so?

The 2 have absolutely nothing in common other than then '360' ness

 

[J InTech82]

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.

I'm just curious, and this is a sincere question, how old are you?

 

[Azzin]

You know the iPhone 8 sales forecast?

Not at all, but look at the sales numbers of previous iPhones and you might understand the point I was trying to make.

 

[Bacillus]

1. You can't buy it.
2. It's $500
3. Has less tech than the HomePod.

1. Then it's probably oversold
2. Too expensive for you => apparently not for others
3. So what, you can't buy it either
4. You say nothing new
(except that you can count to 3)

 

[chineseguy38]

Not at all, but look at the sales numbers of previous iPhones and you might understand the point I was trying to make.

No it really depends how expensive the new model is going to be. By the looks the price will be very expensive which might turn people away.

 

[QquegChristian]

This smart speaker craze is like watching tech in reverse. You mean I can plug a 5.5 pound version of Siri into the wall?! Why have I been wearing Siri in this tiny 40 gram watch for then?

Probably should've used the iPhone as my example, cause Siri on my watch is insufferably slow.

 

[BeefCake 15]

Can it be used as a soundbar for my TV?

 

[MrX8503]

1. Then it's probably oversold
2. Too expensive for you => apparently not for others
3. So what, you can't buy it either
4. You say nothing new
(except that you can count to 3)

It doesn't matter if it's oversold or not. The point is, you can't buy it. It being $500 makes it out of the price range of the HomePod. Nothing to do with what I can afford. Nice try attacking me rather than the argument.

 

[William Gates]

That's rewriting history a little bit. That wasn't the case with the Mac, it wasn't the case with the iPod, and it wasn't the case with the iPhone either. wWhen they came to market, they had technology and usability unmatched by anything from the competition.

HomePod is not a better speaker that other products, and not a btter home assistant thatn other products. It's not better at anything, not when it comes to technolgy and not when it comes to usabailty.

Hell you can even get a Jony Ive designed home speaker from Harmon/Kardon which let's you play ALL streaming services, not just Apple music and sounds better or equally good with 360° audio.

• 6 mid- to high-range 1.5" transducers for accurate, Omni-directional sound and a 4.5” subwoofer for rich, powerful bass
• Custom, stereo-widening DSP audio technology engineered for room-filling, full frequency sound
• Built-in Bluetooth feature streams audio from your Bluetooth devices wirelessly
• Built-in Apple Air Play system with easy set-up for your Apple devices, DLNA for Windows and Android devices, and Spotify Connect
• Customized Harman Kardon Remote app allows for easy set-up and added connectivity

Sounds better? because you've heard the AirPod already?

Plays ALL streaming services? Because surely you can't connect your iPhone via bluetooth to the AirPod JUST LIKE THIS SPEAKER?

 

[Bacillus]

It doesn't matter if it's oversold or not. The point is, you can't buy it. It being $500 makes it out of the price range of the HomePod. Nothing to do with what I can afford. Nice try attacking me rather than the argument.

Ah, got it. You found it overpriced (costing too much money) but not expensive (costing too much money). And you make the Whyd availability an issue, while the HomePod isn't available either/at all.
And now $500 is "out of range". Ah, right. So what "range"? $300....$499 ? $300....$699 ? There is not "a" range...
Therefore, it must be your range. So out of your range, i.e. not only too costly (...but not expensive) but even beyond ehhh... your range - however blurp, oh gee...who would dare to imply what you can afford.
What's the range for regular people to uplevel random phrases into meaningful arguments ?

 

[cgsnipinva]

Ah, got it. You found it overpriced (costing too much money) but not expensive (costing too much money). And you make the Whyd availability an issue, while the HomePod isn't available either/at all.
And now $500 is "out of range". Ah, right. So what "range"? Because there is no range.
Therefore, it must be your range. So out of your range, i.e. not only too costly (...but not expensive) but even beyond ehhh... your range - however blurp, oh gee...who would dare to imply what you can afford.
What's the range for regular people to uplevel random phrases into meaningful arguments ?

The difference is the Whyd was announced and released a while ago. Yet its hard to impossible to get today. The Homepod hasn't been released yet but should be available easily once released in December. A lot of the naysayers said the HomePod was too expensive at $349 but a $500 speaker you cannot get is ok. Given the HomePod would better connect and integrate into the Apple ecosystem - - there is a value proposition to teh HomePod. If it has great sound it should sell well.
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Can it be used as a soundbar for my TV?

If you have AppleTv yes.

 

[wigby]

Let's clarify this. It could be meant two ways:

1. HomePod only plays music from Apple Music. In that case, the huge majority will _not_ buy a HomePod. I have a massive music library and absolutely no need for Apple Music, and the same is true for many people. HomePod must play _any_ music (or audiobooks) coming from any iPhone or iPad.

2. Apple Music only plays on HomePod and on no other external device. Well, that would make many, many people very unhappy and kill Apple Music.

Conclusion: Not going to happen. No exclusivity. You will be able to play any music, podcasts, audiobooks at least from any Apple device, and likely from anything supporting AirPlay. And Apple Music will remain unchanged, playing on any AirPlay compatible device.
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The reason why Apple doesn't break out numbers is to avoid giving numbers to the competition. Competitors can't say "Apple is selling lots of watches, let's copy that", or "Apple isn't selling lots of watches, don't bother making a watch".
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There are _some_ HomePods running in real usage, probably used by Apple engineers. And they have to make sure that pushing out updates _works_. If it fails, then they collect 200 HomePods from their engineers and give them new ones. If it fails after 10 million are sold, that's a problem.

That still makes no sense to me. This update wasn't a leak from an Apple engineer AFAIK. Why would Apple push out updates to developers for a product that developers do not have access to? How come we've never seen updates pushed out for AirPods, iPhones, iPads, etc. months before the hardware was released?

 

[brinary001]

Anyone know what the JavaScript files are for?

 

[Bacillus]

The difference is the Whyd was announced and released a while ago. Yet its hard to impossible to get today. The Homepod hasn't been released yet but should be available easily once released in December. A lot of the naysayers said the HomePod was too expensive at $349 but a $500 speaker you cannot get is ok. Given the HomePod would better connect and integrate into the Apple ecosystem - - there is a value proposition to teh HomePod. If it has great sound it should sell well.

Fair enough.
Nobody can say HomePod is too expensive compared to Whyd (given its adaptive sound control & IR face recognition sw) and the rest is speculation.
And it's too early to say that it is a blatant Whyd rip-off - but it comes pretty close
(Whyd may have ahem.. copied Apple in advance. Oops, my lawyer says it's all pure coincidence)

 

[tipoo]

That's rewriting history a little bit. That wasn't the case with the Mac, i

[arguably the first Macs were stripped down compared to the Amiga, which had video, sound, and graphics acceleration 10 years before anyone else got that good, and preemptive multitasking nearly two decades before Apple and one decade before Microsoft]

 

[MrX8503]

Ah, got it. You found it overpriced (costing too much money) but not expensive (costing too much money). And you make the Whyd availability an issue, while the HomePod isn't available either/at all.
And now $500 is "out of range". Ah, right. So what "range"? $300....$499 ? $300....$699 ? There is not "a" range...
Therefore, it must be your range. So out of your range, i.e. not only too costly (...but not expensive) but even beyond ehhh... your range - however blurp, oh gee...who would dare to imply what you can afford.
What's the range for regular people to uplevel random phrases into meaningful arguments ?

What are you rambling on about?

The Whyd isn't a HomePod competitor because of features, cost, and availability. Why is that hard so understand?