I think they made a huge mistake locking the speaker down to Apple music and focus mainly on sound quality. Others (Amazon) have a huge advantage when it comes to AI functionality (Like alexa).
All amazon has to do is to create a better sounding Alexa and there is close to no justification for the homepod.
Yes, again the contest here seems to be what will it take for Apple to make Siri equal to or better than Alexa for these purposes vs. what will it take for Amazon to replace what has been implied* to be a lower quality speaker with a higher quality one?
For years and years Siri has been ridiculed even around here as inferior to the newcomers. Odds are high that you or I could swap out a lower quality speaker with a higher quality speaker in as little as a few minutes. Consider the Echo Dot + any quality speaker of your choosing vs. what appears to be the HomePod competition.
*Note our perception of the "better quality speaker" is pretty much entirely based on Apple marketing statements and what are almost certainly biased initial "reviews" of hand-picked Apple invitees to the big reveal event, listening in an Apple-controlled environment to Apple-selected audio. We still have not got to see a single objective review confirming the statement that this speaker is the best in this class of product. What if that's just marketing puffery? For example, my own iDevices aren't actually magical. Are yours?
Nevertheless & again, even if the speaker turns out to be
objectively better quality, consider the fundamental contest offered above. What historically makes Apple offerings win is
superior software (or the perception of superior software) available only on Apple-offered technology. That is fundamental to rationalizing paying up for the Apple version of something. In this case so far, Apple's main marketing thrust has been a simple hardware advantage- "better quality speaker"- which may or may not prove out. If it does prove out, the competition faces the challenge of rolling out a version of their product with a better speaker. How hard will it be for them to do that?
This is the very same issue with the long-rumored Apple Television. We all know that an Apple television would source the panel from Samsung or LG, etc. And ultimately the source would probably put the very same panel in their own-branded case. We could not successfully argue that the picture on Apple's television is far superior to the picture on Samsung's televisions if both are using the exact same hardware. So the rationale for paying up for the TV would have to be in the exclusive software. If that software was basically an
TV built inside and there was still
TVs as a standalone product too, one could pay up for the Apple television or buy the EXACT SAME hardware and a
TV STB, save the bulk of the Apple margin and have the exact same experience.
I look at what we know of this speaker and I don't see how Apple "wins" this particular contest if it leans heavily on a hardware claim. It's much too easy for everyone else to match or exceed that hardware claim with a relatively simple change to their products (if necessary), probably still sell them for less than HomePod's price and offer what is probably the superior software running atop them. In my head today, it seems Siri is key here, meaning that Siri will need to take a massive leap forward such that it seems much more capable than Alexa and similar offerings. If Alexa, etc are still viewed as more capable in these kinds of functions, why do the non-fanatics opt to pay for 1 HomePod vs. 2 or 3 Echos... or even just 1 Echo and use the substantial savings towards other things?
IMO, this one is going to be a tough sale (beyond the fanatics) unless Apple is holding back some major software advantages to better justify the Apple premium. Amazon, etc appears to have plenty of room to roll out an Echo Pro with a superior speaker and probably still beat HomePod's price. Assuming so, the battle seems to become Siri vs. Alexa and similar.
