HomePod Mini Helps Apple Nearly Double Its Market Share of Smart Speakers and Screens

[44267547]

Apple has 5 iPhone choices and one speaker choice for four years.

Comparing an iPhone selection to a smart speaker isn’t even close to being fair, nor really appropriate. The iPhone is a main stream product for Apple, and obviously there’s more emphasis placed on where they make their money, and a smart speaker, that’s more of an accessory to the iPhone. Naturally a smart speaker would likely never be as balanced as the iPhone is, and I don’t suspect Apple ever intended a smart speaker to ever compete with the iPhone either. Totally two different product segments.

 

[Abazigal]

Am reminded of this article.

Above Avalon: A Stationary Smart Speaker Mirage

We are in the midst of a massive mindshare bubble involving stationary smart speakers in the home. While the press talk up the category with near breathless enthusiasm and positivity, there is a growing amount of evidence that stationary smart speakers powered by digital voice assistants do not repr

www.aboveavalon.com

In the greater scheme of things, I think the HomePods mini makes sense as an option for iPhone users who are subscribed to Apple Music and don’t mind paying a more for better privacy (ie: having Siri in the house instead of Google Now or Alexa). I really don’t see much of a role for HomePods outside of this, and considering that Apple is already fairly successful when it comes to the iPhone and Apple Watch, they probably don’t need to focus on the smart speaker market too much.

These companies are not moving into stationary devices for the home because they represent the next frontier in tech or an upcoming paradigm shift. Instead, these companies are incentivized to figure out a way to reduce smartphone usage by unbundling the device. The result is smart speakers piping digital voice assistants that are also available through our smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches.

The fact that companies that did not succeed with smartphone hardware are increasingly betting on stationary devices has been described as a moment of opportunity. Some in the tech community have looked at low-cost hardware powered by digital voice assistants as some kind of hardware disruption – commoditized hardware powered by closed-based services to handle tasks we used to give smartphones and tablets. I disagree. Stationary home speakers aren't a disruption. Instead, they are proving to be a distraction.

 

[SFjohn]

I own 2 original HomePods (a stere pair) & paid full price. I have never regretted it. They still amaze me to this day. I’ve never heard such a perfect sounding speaker at that size for any price. Eventually they will stop working, but I enjoy the hell out of them every day. We also have a few HomePod mini, and likely will get 1 more. They sound amazing for the size, but no where near anything like the originals.

 

[SFjohn]

I might be the only one in this thread to feel this way, but here goes: I am not entirely comfortable with devices in my home that are listening 100% of the time, recording the audio, and sending it in for analysis.

Super easy to turn that off with most Apple gear…

 

[SFjohn]

I picked up a HomePod mini to try it out and I've liked it so far except for one behavior: I find the HomePod to be responding even when I'm asking something of Siri on my iPhone, one or two rooms away from the HomePod. I can't hear the HomePod's response from that distance and half the time it's just complaining because it was a personal request and I don't have those enabled on the HomePod.

Apple documents that in the case of multiple devices the HomePod is going to answer most requests, but if you're making a personal request, multiple devices hear you, and the HomePod has personal requests turned off, it should really let the other device respond.

Also, is HomePod really hearing me over 25' away in a different room, or is the iPhone pushing the request to the HomePod? And if the latter, what's the distance threshold to prevent that?

The workaround is invoking Siri on the iPhone by any method other than saying "Hi Siri".

You can easily disable that on your HomePods, all of ours require a touch to wake them.

 

[SFjohn]

Said nobody ever, but you.

When it comes to privacy, it’s true.

 

[TonyC28]

Sorta off topic, but should they drop the "mini" since there is only one size?

 

[- rob -]

Look out Alibaba speaker (?). Apple is coming for you.

 

[Powerbooky]

Why would any one want that. I understand loosing all privacy for Google, because it works better than Siri, but not Alexa.

That's for sure. Recently someone we know was talking about someone working at a company. Nothing about what's in the (local) news at all. But... while he was talking... his Android(!) phone was on the table not being used. Just a couple of hours later he got ads about products of that same company while he was browsing the internet. Android (Google) is listening.

The one JBL speaker we have, which is Google compatible, seems to do the same thing. Even though there is a mute button on that thing and it isn't configured with an Google account, it still talks to several Google servers multiple times during an hour (time servers not included) with varying amounts of data. So I blocked most Google servers.

 

[Powerbooky]

It does analysis locally to determine whether you have said “Hey Siri,” after which it begins recording your request. Nothing before the activation phrase is uttered is recorded or sent. (This is also the case for Google and Amazon smart speakers.)

If you’re concerned about accidental activations, they’re certainly rare in my experience, but if one does happen you’re able to stop the device immediately by tapping on the top surface.

Nope... I've already experienced that Google devices send audio recordings without the "Hey Google" phrase trigger. Conversations are recorded and analysed elsewhere. At this moment for targeted ads, but who knows for something more?

 

[Powerbooky]

Well, with the experience of offering a cheaper, but still great HomePod mini to gain more market share now under Apple’s belt, what about offering a cheaper Apple TV 4K dongle with S8 chip next year?

Not a dongle, please. Besides the fact that HDMI ports of most TV's do not deliver the power such a dongle would need, usually they just don't not fit nicely behind a wall mounted TV. Maybe in 5+ years?

 

[Razorpit]

That was deliberate. Could you imagine if they started at the low end and then tried to introduce a much more expensive speaker? Consumers would ask "why would I spend more for the same thing?".

The original HomePod broke the ice, allowed them to refine the technology at a premium level, and then reduce its size. Technology always starts out big and then gets smaller as it matures.

The original and mini are two different products. The only thing the two have in common is that they are a Siri speaker.

Sorta off topic, but should they drop the "mini" since there is only one size?

I have hope they’ll reintroduce a proper HomePod again.

 

[Piggie]

I'm fully expecting this scenario to be repeated by Apple with their VR/AR tech in the next few years.
There will be current low priced, but good enough for most people headsets out there.
Apple will come along, thinking they know best and produce a very nice, but overpriced product.
It will sell to a select few, but fail to gain any major traction due to it's pricing, and perhaps lock-downs.
They will then cancel the device and release a lower priced lower spec version, which is still more than the now well established competition, and Apple will take a small share of the market.

Please tell me Apple are not so stupid to yet again, not understand and not follow this same path......

Steve priced the original iPad as low as I'm sure he could do, and that worked out very well for them.
I honestly think, without Steve, if Tim Cook were launching an iPad today he'd made the mistake of pricing it high "because it's Apple" and things would have been very different.

 

[Shanghaichica]

That's for sure. Recently someone we know was talking about someone working at a company. Nothing about what's in the (local) news at all. But... while he was talking... his Android(!) phone was on the table not being used. Just a couple of hours later he got ads about products of that same company while he was browsing the internet. Android (Google) is listening.

The one JBL speaker we have, which is Google compatible, seems to do the same thing. Even though there is a mute button on that thing and it isn't configured with an Google account, it still talks to several Google servers multiple times during an hour (time servers not included) with varying amounts of data. So I blocked most Google servers.

If I had evidence of that level of spying I’d have chucked the thing out the window.

 

[LeeW]

So 1/3rd the price and they double the market share.
If they make one for $33, they can further double their market share.
If they make one for $11, they can increase their market share 4-fold from now.

Makes no difference how they price it. Their market for them is limited no matter what. Only people with other Apple devices are buying it and not everyone wants it.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Makes no difference how they price it. Their market for them is limited no matter what. Only people with other Apple devices are buying it and not everyone wants it.

I don’t think they can ever compete with the echo dots and google home minis. They are cheap and and are impulse buys. It doesn’t matter what phone you have and they go on sale all the time or are given away free. Apple can’t compete with that.

 

[Mr. 123]

Can you turn off sir completely and only use it as a wireless airplay speaker?

 

[B/D]

Can you turn off sir completely and only use it as a wireless airplay speaker?

Yes. Wireless speaker in this case, means Wi-Fi. The Homepod bluetooth antenna can´t be used for streaming audio (for now).

 

[jonblatho]

Nope... I've already experienced that Google devices send audio recordings without the "Hey Google" phrase trigger. Conversations are recorded and analysed elsewhere. At this moment for targeted ads, but who knows for something more?

Most likely accidental activations, which can happen on any smart speaker.

 

[contacos]

No Spotify Connect, no buy.

 

[MBAir2010]

I own 2 original HomePods (a stere pair) & paid full price. I have never regretted it. They still amaze me to this day. I’ve never heard such a perfect sounding speaker at that size for any price. Eventually they will stop working, but I enjoy the hell out of them every day. We also have a few HomePod mini, and likely will get 1 more. They sound amazing for the size, but no where near anything like the originals.

what type of music sounds great on these pods?

the big one had problems with Mozart's 36th symphony at that apple store in 2018 were most instruments could net be heard, compared to Bose or the Marshall systems.

thanks in advance

 

[Biro]

They suck as HomeKit products though. Siri takes ages to set scenes since iOS 15. A lot of things just fail too, without explanation. I’m growing very tired of HomeKit not working properly and regretting investing heavily in the system.

This answers a lot for me. I finally gave up on my two original HomePods. Too buggy. Too many unexplained failures. If the new HomePods worked better and were more reliable, I might be interested. But, clearly, they are not.

 

[svish]

The lower price tag will definitely help to increase sales

 

[elvislives]

Finally Just got one for Xmas...I will Never use an Amazon or Google Data Mining speaker.

 

[kingtj1971]

You can likely accomplish all of this using automations and iOS shortcuts, It might require some technical knowledge as shortcuts app is not really average user frendly but it's really powerful.

That may be true, but I haven't really run across anyone doing it yet. That tells me it's not a trivial task to accomplish.

It would be interesting to try to do, for someone invested in HomeKit and Apple HomePods and so on.

I still think Apple has really just fallen far behind on this whole vision. The biggest thing going for their HomePods is better sound quality than a cheap, basic unit like an Echo Dot. But Amazon offers more expensive models of those with better speakers too. I also like the way Apple added some encryption for the HomeKit commands ... but realistically? That just hasn't added a lot of real-world value for most people. (I mean, do I really care if someone figures out how to hack my smart light-bulb or switch and flips it on and off? They cost literally 1/4th. the price of HomeKit versions in many cases, because they don't have to have the additional hardware or licensing to use Apple's standards for encryption. So if such a thing happened, I could literally swap the unit with a different type and still save money over having had the HomeKit version.) Siri isn't as flexible with giving sensible answers to queries either.

I tried to use Siri and HomeKit to automate my previous home. It was a constant struggle. (EG. I had the HomeKit version of August's smart door locks and they only worked via Bluetooth. They used an Apple iPad or Apple TV box as the "repeater" to get a Bluetooth command to them to lock or unlock them. That meant I had to buy an extra Apple TV just to sit in my detached garage so the August lock on the garage's side door could receive commands!)