HomePod Launched Five Years Ago Today, Faced Several Setbacks Along the Way

[Allen_Wentz]

I bought one homepod, then they cancelled at a few months later and I don't know what to do with it. I barely use Siri, I do use it to listen to music and it's connected to the Apple TV. With that said, I feel like the Home Pod is the only Apple Device I regret purchasing, but all I wanted was a better speaker system for my TV.

1) One speaker will always sound mediocre, like one speaker.
2) The market for original HPs is very strong, so that is what you can do with it: sell it to someone with original HPs who wants to replace a failed HP.
3) Buy a pair of the new HPs.

 

[mossandfog]

Blows my mind how a trillion dollar company could face setbacks creating a compelling speaker. Sonos is 1/40th the valuation, and have been creating amazing audio ecosystems for over a decade.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

The HomePod failed, and will continue to fail, not because of its poor connectivity options, but because it is poorly positioned in the market.
Way overpriced for what it is.

Way wrong. The full-size HP is not "Way overpriced for what it is." You simply fail to grasp what it is.

A pair of full-size HPs self-balance to provide very good sound in smallish acoustically very difficult spaces. No other speaker pair does that at any price; $600/pair is more than fair.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Blows my mind how a trillion dollar company could face setbacks creating a compelling speaker. Sonos is 1/40th the valuation, and have been creating amazing audio ecosystems for over a decade.

Sonos is a good speaker company (which is not Apple's focus). But neither Sonos nor any other speaker company makes a speaker pair that self-balances to provide very good sound in smallish acoustically very difficult spaces. Not at any price.

 

[Zmmyt]

For me the HomePod checks more boxes than other speakers do:

Great sounding and aesthetically pleasing

I couldn’t imagine any other speaker for my mini tainment corner.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Why aren't there more reviews with 2 HomePod 2 speakers. Two is the way to go for playing music.

Your comment is spot-on. Apple screws up by discussing one HP; Apple likely does so to reduce the sticker price shock from $600 to $300. IMO a mistake by Apple marketing, because the good sound that justifies the HP requires a pair of HPs.

 

[tubular]

Got three OG. Unfortunately I'm in a noisy place for 2.4GHz and I have had enough trouble keeping two of them paired that I don't try anymore.

What I get is lossless reproduction of lossless transmission of lossless rips from CD. I like that.

The one thing I *wish* OG had is Thread, but I've got a HomePod mini for that.

 

[fatTribble]

Love my HomePods!
But math aside, Geez Louise how can 2018 be 5 years ago?!

 

[Chriss_m]

Well, it only took them five years to release it in a sustainable way. Tim Cook's Apple, ladies and gentlemen.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Love the HomePod!

I wish Apple had never discontinued the Original HomePod. It became controversial because Apple decided to diminish it and then bringing it back years later.

 

[kesenwangs]

Siri still sucks tho, nobody is buying these speakers just for Siri. Although it’s helpful when paired with Apple TV to control playback of Movies/TV.

 

[goobot]

Blows my mind how a trillion dollar company could face setbacks creating a compelling speaker. Sonos is 1/40th the valuation, and have been creating amazing audio ecosystems for over a decade.

The biggest problem apple has is that they think that by tying the homepod to the iPhone, they are going to get more people to buy iPhones in order to then get a homepod. When it comes down to it people want interpolate set ups with aux and Bluetooth. Apple could’ve done what they did with the iPod and realize tying it to another product is dumb and instead just make them work better with iPhone (airplay) which would allow for the homepod to sell better and lead to actual increase in sales for iPhone like the iPod did for the Mac. Unfortunately apple seems to be getting high off their own marketing

 

[mytdave]

It's $50 too expensive. Better than $100 too expensive the last time.

 

[Octavius8]

Huge evolution. So hard to have a working standalone music player????.
Bose is ridiculous.
Apple even worse.
I can’t spend so much money every other year for a glorified Bluetooth speaker. That even can’t work as a BT speaker…

 

[AL2TEACH]

The only thing wrong with the HomePod is Apple's crappy software for it. Apple needs to chill a little and take time to make really good software for the HomePod.

Apple's marketing of it is also eh dubious and going down that slimy road that Apple need not go. Yes, the HomePods are Dolby Atmos enabled but 2 HomePods can only get you stereo. A few will state that 4 speakers will do but most state that in order to have Dolby Atmos, one will need 5 or more speakers.
Just search something like, how many speakers are needed for dolby atmos or dolby atmos speaker requirements.

 

[mxrider88]

Can a decent pair of bookcase speakers understand my "Hey Siri, play Miles Davis" from across the room, and then start playing all of Miles Davis' music, without involving any other device (computer, phone/tablet, amplifier, etc), anywhere in my house?

Not even the HomePod can..
it would probably reply that he can’t convert that into miles.

 

[WilliamG]

The original HomePod was fantastic. The v2, while having a clearer/cleaner soundstage, does not project/fill a room as well as the original.

Yes, and Apple has broken the original, sadly, with the latest updates. Every command now has to be repeated twice or Siri errors out. Coincidence?

 

[Da_Hood]

Sonos is a good speaker company (which is not Apple's focus). But neither Sonos nor any other speaker company makes a speaker pair that self-balances to provide very good sound in smallish acoustically very difficult spaces. Not at any price.

Please edit, that statement is FALSE.

 

[svish]

Happy that a new version of HomePod is now available.

 

[lk400]

Can a decent pair of bookcase speakers understand my "Hey Siri, play Miles Davis" from across the room, and then start playing all of Miles Davis' music, without involving any other device (computer, phone/tablet, amplifier, etc), anywhere in my house?

Hey Siri, play Miles Davis.

Now playing Drake Essentials Playlist.

*Throws HomePod Out Window*

 

[tan.shu]

This product would sell three times as well if it had a 3.5mm input.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Apple's arrogance over not allowing you to use Spotify, Amazon Music and inability to listen to many radio stations made this product an overpriced joke. They do seem to have listened a bit over the years, but unfortunately they arrived late to the market initially and many people have simply invested in other smartspeakers. Combine that with how poor Siri is and you can clearly see its failings.

The HomePod Mini would have been perfect back in 2017 at its price point and without all the restrictions for me. We are all iPhone, and iPad users, yet Apple failed to make this a seamless product unless you subscribed to Apple Music and didn't want to listen to a British radio station. Comical really lol.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Way wrong. The full-size HP is not "Way overpriced for what it is." You simply fail to grasp what it is.

A pair of full-size HPs self-balance to provide very good sound in smallish acoustically very difficult spaces. No other speaker pair does that at any price; $600/pair is more than fair.

What if you're not bothered about 'very good sound'? Not everybody cares about the sound when there are cheap smart assistants out there that are simply 'good enough'. When I am doing the housework and listening to a podcast, radio or a playlist, I'm not studying the acoustic qualities of the speaker, its just background noise. Perhaps I too have 'failed to grasp what it is' along with tens of millions of others who didn't buy it.

Audiophiles will not be the market for this product and the average household won't be either. In the middle you have thoese that will buy it because its made by Apple and there you have a very small market. The HomePod Mini might pick up a better audience because its £99, but then you can get Google and Amazon products just under that price point which both have better voice recognition software. Maybe its Apple that don't grasp what the market prefers or simply they want to only go after a very small proportion of it?

 

[wanha]

What if you're not bothered about 'very good sound'? Not everybody cares about the sound when there are cheap smart assistants out there that are simply 'good enough'. When I am doing the housework and listening to a podcast, radio or a playlist, I'm not studying the acoustic qualities of the speaker, its just background noise. Perhaps I too have 'failed to grasp what it is' along with tens of millions of others who didn't buy it.

Audiophiles will not be the market for this product and the average household won't be either. In the middle you have thoese that will buy it because its made by Apple and there you have a very small market. The HomePod Mini might pick up a better audience because its £99, but then you can get Google and Amazon products just under that price point which both have better voice recognition software. Maybe its Apple that don't grasp what the market prefers or simply they want to only go after a very small proportion of it?

It's quite obvious that this isn't a product for a person with your preferences and expectations.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

It's quite obvious that this isn't a product for a person with your preferences and expectations.

It was my intention to give that impression, yes.

Is it not good to hear different perspectives though? I don't think anything I said wasn't true, especially for those with my preferences.