Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

HomePod Now Sold Out on Apple's US Online Store

Craigwilliam said:
Homepod was never advertised as a "me, too" product in the world of smart speakers. It was the tech press who decided it was competition for products like Amazon's Echo and other smart speakers. Siri was primarily used as a control device with some added functionality
Click to expand...
"As a home assistant, HomePod is a great way to send messages, get updates on news, sports and weather, or control smart home devices by simply asking Siri to turn on the lights, close the shades or activate a scene."

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/06/homepod-reinvents-music-in-the-home/

Homepod was first and foremost designed as an Apple Music player and that's the way it was introduced and marketed
Click to expand...
And that's the problem, I believe: There are few people who want an "Apple Music player". Or music players that are "first and foremost designed" for (only) the one streaming service its manufacturer wants to shove down consumer's throats.

I think there's lots of customers that want a Music player that lets them "play my music from where I want and have it". With minimal fuss. Which could be a Bluetooth device, a NAS or Spotify. Or even something with an audio jack But that's where Apple failed to deliver.
No one wanted them because they couldn't be used with anything other than Apple products.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say no one. I think the ones that wanted them, got them by now.
Except the ones that couldn't, cause the product was never released in their country.
 
Last edited:
AppliedMicro said:
"As a home assistant, HomePod is a great way to send messages, get updates on news, sports and weather, or control smart home devices by simply asking Siri to turn on the lights, close the shades or activate a scene."

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/06/homepod-reinvents-music-in-the-home/
Click to expand...

The quote you cherrypicked, is noting an extra feature just like I said. If you actually look at the gist of the press release as well as the actual HomePod page on Apple.com it's advertised as an Apple Music device first. So your pedantry is just plain false.

"
PRESS RELEASE
June 5, 2017

HomePod reinvents music in the home"​

 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: jhollington and Victor Mortimer
SRQrws said:
I have four Homepods and one Mini. The sound quality of the Homepods is amazing for their size. The Mini? Not so much. It's okay as an assistant, but the sound quality is nothing compared to the big ones.
Click to expand...
I've got a (HomePod) mini I'm using as a computer speaker for my (Mac) mini. But it's also useful for Siri. I'm okay with the difference in sound quality because I'm using it for different purposes.
 
AppliedMicro said:
"As a home assistant, HomePod is a great way to send messages, get updates on news, sports and weather, or control smart home devices by simply asking Siri to turn on the lights, close the shades or activate a scene."

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/06/homepod-reinvents-music-in-the-home/
Click to expand...

But that's all the way down in the fourth paragraph. I don't think Apple was under any illusion that a $349 speaker is a drop-in replacement for a low-cost Echo device.

The first paragraph is entirely about "amazing audio quality", "deep knowledge of music preferences", "richness of original recordings". That's not an accident. It's their pitch: this is primarily a wireless speaker that sounds good, not just any smart speaker.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: hooptyuber, jhollington, Victor Mortimer and 1 other person
chucker23n1 said:
The first paragraph is entirely about "amazing audio quality", "deep knowledge of music preferences", "richness of original recordings". That's not an accident. It's their pitch: this is primarily a wireless speaker that sounds good, not just any smart speaker.
Click to expand...
Yep. I got them because I wanted high-quality speakers to which I could stream my music library to losslessly via Airplay 2, and because they act as a HomeKit hub for automating things. These things were a bullseye for me.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: Victor Mortimer, FightTheFuture and samlikesmac
macrumorsuser10 said:
Good riddance. The Homepod was probably the most anti-consumer product Apple has ever made.
  1. Connectivity only through AirPlay.
  2. No Bluetooth.
  3. No physical 3.5mm line-in.
  4. No way to use a pair as computer speakers without major latency between computer video play and Homepod audio.
It's like Apple sold this thing to be a "me, too" product in the world of smart speakers. Then they just stopped caring about it. It's really disappointing.
Click to expand...
You listed the same thing 4 times.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: applesque, trip1ex, AppleTO and 3 others
Galley said:
I scored a pair of white ones at Best Buy for $200 each. I was hoping to get a pair of space gray ones for that price, but now even the used ones are going for $$$.
Click to expand...
Glad you snagged some. Worth the hunt, if you ask me. Keeping mine until they break (or something better from Apple comes along).
 
There certainly is one odd thing about the product — no USB-C connector or port. I’m not sure if Apple had wireless means of debugging the speaker, but there was an update a while back (available for only a short window) that is known to have bricked a good amount of HomePods which had been set to auto update ultimately requiring a return/replacement. With no debug port, I wonder to this day the level of effort from Apple to fix these speakers.

I hope these make a return with a slight redesign in the future. I just got some HomePod minis and while they don’t pack the same punch with bass, I can understand the shift in focus to a less niche <$100 product.
 
Well that was really a flop, but anyone with some common sense could guess that from release day: overpriced, severely limited (can’t connect to a console or a dvd/Blu-ray player or anything that is not an apple product… and even with macs the lag is so bad that it’s impossible to use it for anything that is not music), audio quality subpar if compared with normal speakers of the same price, smart features inferior to other smart speakers…
 
RIP Homepod, we hardly knew ye.

The $200 felt right, but even at the price, I guess it didn't click with consumers. Apple probably could have lowered it to $200 permanently but at the price, probably the margins weren't high enough for it to stick around...
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: Victor Mortimer
dv8or said:
Fantastic speakers.. I have a pair connected to my Apple TV and I am constantly amazed at the sound with movies in dolby atmos...love them. Perhaps there is another version coming out at some point.
Click to expand...

Same assessment here. I have a stereo pair in my living room and another pair in my shop. My wife has a single in her studio. Superb sound at a reasonable cost. With very innovative underlying signal processing to achieve that. I'm also looking forward to the next version.
 
idmean said:
You are probably not the demographic Apple was targeting then. I immediately got my HomePod when it came out, use it almost daily and have yet to miss any of the features you list.
Click to expand...

that's the thing, I'm guessing a lot of people wanted more flexibility out of it and stayed away in droves. The issue is that the competition does allow these things and at a lower price.
 
warpdrive said:
RIP Homepod, we hardly knew ye.

The $200 felt right, but even at the price, I guess it didn't click with consumers. Apple probably could have lowered it to $200 permanently but at the price, probably the margins weren't high enough for it to stick around...
Click to expand...

That's my view as well. All large corporations are driven by hitting their targeted margins.
 
Got two whites and they sound insane good, now even more awesome with lossless. And I guess their support for lossless was the main reason they are sold out now.
 
Can someone explain Apple's audio speaker strategy, because I seem rather baffled by it?
 
  • Like
Reactions: AppleTO
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back