HomePod Launches February 9, Available to Order Starting Friday in United States, UK, and Australia

[MartyCan]

I live in Canada and they aren’t available here yet but I go to the US often enough that I could get one there and bring it home. Anyone know any reason that it might not work once I get it home if I do that?

 

[Keirasplace]

I live in Canada and they aren’t available here yet but I go to the US often enough that I could get one there and bring it home. Anyone know any reason that it might not work once I get it home if I do that?

You might have to change some settings (some people had to do that to get news to work).

I also live in Canada and so want it, but I'll have to wait.

The main reason for the delay is:
- phased rollout (they don't want to go too wide without knowing what demand there will be)
- Multilanguage on the same speaker. Will it be possible? Are they aiming for that.
- Languages other than English. French (Quebec), they probably want to make sure it works well with English (the native tongue of most Apple engineers before introducing another variable).
- I'm french speaking so it is sort of my fault ;-).

I expect the Homepod to arrive somewhere in March or April around here.

 

[sidewinder3000]

With the iPhone launch, Apple will likely close down their online store, which Typically their products are updated/available at midnight Pacific time and should be available according to your time zone.

However, it could be different with the HomePod, which they could launch during the daytime as they did with the AirPods.

They went with a general “morning” time. Have to admit, I was kind of annoyed by their ambiguity. I wound up staying up ‘til 2am central to see if they’d go on sale at midnight Pacific time, which obviously was a swing-and-a-miss.

Not sure why they were so vague. Hope they get more specific for their next launch.

 

[ouimetnick]

Just like that 3 short years later, it turned out to be a failure. They only recently allowed for 3rd party streaming music services, no bluetooth or auxiliary in. What happens in a few years when this device gets cut off from Apple's servers and Siri stops working? You have a glorified AirPlay speaker if that.

 

[Shanghaichica]

A few years in it will be 6-7 years old. It’s a good speaker if you are invested in the ecosystem.

 

[Seanm87]

Just like that 3 short years later, it turned out to be a failure. They only recently allowed for 3rd party streaming music services, no bluetooth or auxiliary in. What happens in a few years when this device gets cut off from Apple's servers and Siri stops working? You have a glorified AirPlay speaker if that.

All tech products stop getting support eventually. A few years from now is 6 years which is pretty reasonable.

IPhone 12 pro will probably stop getting support in 6 years.

 

[testcard]

I'd shortlisted either the HomePod or Echo Studio. I went for the latter.

 

[Ted13]

Just like that 3 short years later, it turned out to be a failure. They only recently allowed for 3rd party streaming music services, no bluetooth or auxiliary in. What happens in a few years when this device gets cut off from Apple's servers and Siri stops working? You have a glorified AirPlay speaker if that.

A "glorified" AirPlay 2 speaker is something I would be fine with for decades to come.

 

[Shanghaichica]

The only other thing I want the HomePod to do is to be able to initiate playback via voice commands to my Apple TV, to start playback for specific TV shows or movies. Doesn’t even have to included third party apps. Can be limited to Apple TV plus and iTunes content. I have a large library of movies and TV shows purchased from iTunes.

Otherwise its fine. Maybe make airplay more consistent and stable so that I wouldn’t have to unplug my HomePod and replace it with an echo for an hour just to listen to an audio book whilst I’m cooking and doing the dishes.

 

[I7guy]

Just like that 3 short years later, it turned out to be a failure. They only recently allowed for 3rd party streaming music services, no bluetooth or auxiliary in. What happens in a few years when this device gets cut off from Apple's servers and Siri stops working? You have a glorified AirPlay speaker if that.

A glorified AirPlay speaker is perfect. But apple isn’t cutting anything off so fast.