HomePod Works Abroad in English Only, Other Languages Coming in Future Software Updates

[MacRumors]

While the HomePod is initially launching in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom next month, MacRumors can confirm that Apple's smart speaker will function in most other countries around the world.

When users try to set up the HomePod outside of those aforementioned countries, a dialogue box will appear that directs them to choose one of three English language options to proceed. We can confirm this setup process can be completed, and that the HomePod functions, in mostly any country from day one.

The setup process was leaked by Guilherme Rambo? back in August:

This is how the HomePod setup will look like on an iPhone. pic.twitter.com/SARqsYslL6 - Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) August 22, 2017

What this all means is that if you manage to purchase a HomePod from one of the initial launch countries, you could take it back home to a country like Canada or elsewhere in Europe and it should function properly, but until Siri gains support for additional languages, you'll be stuck using English only.

While this information isn't all that surprising, we decided to share it given an influx of questions we have received from our international readers.

Apple today announced the HomePod will be available to order this Friday, January 26 in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom for $349, $499, and £319 respectively. Those orders will begin arriving to customers, alongside limited in-store availability, starting Friday, February 9.

Apple said the HomePod will launch in France and Germany this spring, marking the first countries where English isn't the primary language spoken where the speaker will be available. As mentioned, a future software update should add French and German language support to Siri on the HomePod.

Article Link: HomePod Works Abroad in English Only, Other Languages Coming in Future Software Updates

 

[bbplayer5]

What a ridiculous price.

 

[Woyzeck]

So in other words: there‘ll be many countries that‘ll never get Siri on their speakers, as is currently the case with Siri on AppleTV.

It‘s a shame that such a big company is unable to support all of their markets within reasonable time. Non-english speakers are always second class customers.

 

[d_an_2014]

While this information isn't all that surprising, we decided to share it given an influx of questions we have received from our international readers.

Actually this comes as an surprise to me... I hope this is true. I live in Germany but setup all my device to English. With the current AppleTV, I can't use Siri, as my AppleTV is setup to English. To enable Siri, I have to change the language completely to German. Really dosent make sense to me... My iPhone / iPad is in English as well and I can use Siri.. Hope this will work with the HomePod as well..

 

[justperry]

What a ridiculous price.

Maybe, but what is really ridiculous is that Apple/people think this can output *great sound, fact, it can't.


*For a 7" tall speaker

 

[Mac-lover3]

Maybe, but what is really ridiculous is that Apple/people think this can output *great sound, fact, it can't.


*For a 7" tall speaker

Because you have already heard it in real life?

EDIT: I know that there are limitations because of the size.

 

[magicschoolbus]

I still am not understanding how this product, without being hooked up to an e-commerce site, is going to be better than the competition in a space that has been flooded by a more affordable product with more features.

 

[wlossw]

I was excited about the HomePod, but amazon came to Canada first. I now have an echo in every room, and probably will ditch Apple Music sooner rather than later (I signed up for Spotify and it’s amazingly better).

Too little too late.

 

[Rogifan]

So in other words: there‘ll be many countries that‘ll never get Siri on their speakers, as is currently the case with Siri on AppleTV.

It‘s a shame that such a big company is unable to support all of their markets within reasonable time. Non-english speakers are always second class customers.

How many countries does Amazon Echo and Google Home support?

 

[JohnnyQuest]

The HomePod is definitely feeling rushed to market.

No multi-language support and no multi-room capability at launch are shocking. This thing was announced as a Sonos competitor, and it's initially being sold as a glorified Jambox.

Pass for now.

 

[npmacuser5]

So in other words: there‘ll be many countries that‘ll never get Siri on their speakers, as is currently the case with Siri on AppleTV.

It‘s a shame that such a big company is unable to support all of their markets within reasonable time. Non-english speakers are always second class customers.

An older article as to why Siri on Apple TV only in a few countries. I would imagine the same reason for the Homepod. An explanation for what is worth.

“This is despite the fact Siri on iPhone is actually available in 30 countries, so it wasn’t clear why Apple had pinpointed only a subset of those. It turns out, according to a chat with Apple by MacPrime, that there are some clever optimizations Apple makes with Apple TV Siri to improve speech recognition.

Because a core feature is the movie and TV show search, Apple tunes Siri in every country by teaching it about pronunciation characteristics for movie and TV show titles. Phonetic speech of actor names, films and directors vary drastically in different countries.

So Apple has to go through each country, add the differences in speech to the Siri database, so the overall user experience of searching for things is faster and more accurate. In the post, MacPrime uses the example of actor name Matthew McConaughey as something that is often pronounced in wildy different ways across languages and dialects.

It doesn’t do this for Siri on iPhone specifically because movies and TV shows is not a core function of using that device. But for Apple TV, it’s almost essential that those features work well so Apple will only add Siri for the country once it has gone through those training steps. In addition, on Apple TV there is no keyboard input for Siri so accuracy with voice recognition is doubly important so you can successfully find the content you are looking for.

Apple has therefore started by training Siri in the eight most popular countries (like USA and UK) and is working on expanding more soon.”

 

[omihek]

Maybe, but what is really ridiculous is that Apple/people think this can output *great sound, fact, it can't.


*For a 7" tall speaker

You have one that you have already tried? Please post a video on YouTube for all of us to hear for ourselves.

 

[justperry]

Because you have already heard it in real life?

You have one that you have already tried? Please post a video on YouTube for all of us to hear for ourselves.

No, it's a fact you can't get great sound out of small speakers, this is common knowledge/physics.

*Edited: Grammar

 

[haruhiko]

It's an unfinished beta product.

 

[bgro]

apple clearly either biting off more than they can chew or taking a very slow approach to this product rollout. Definitely feels rushed, no different than some of their other recent products.

 

[neoelectronaut]

Just bought a pair of R-15PM speakers over the weekend because I got tired of waiting for the HomePod. Hopefully I don't regret it.

 

[justperry]

How many countries does Amazon Echo and Google Home support?

That was a valid concern, why drag Google or Amazon into this.

 

[seatton]

Too bad Siri cannot understand my accent well enough to do normal task half of the time.... A lot of people at Amazon or Apple are not native speaker of English and I wish they realized that.

 

[macs4nw]

Maybe, but what is really ridiculous is that Apple/people think this can output *great sound, fact, it can't.


*For a 7" tall speaker

Physically speaking, it obviously can't rival audiophile quality, nor is it designed to.

However, with an announced down-firing woofer and seven-tweeter array it could still sound amazing and be a great improvement over the multitude of inexpensive 'junk' powered speakers a lot of people use for shared listening.

 

[magicschoolbus]

Just bought a pair of R-15PM speakers over the weekend because I got tired of waiting for the HomePod. Hopefully I don't regret it.

Ah, I have been dying to purchase those. How do you like them?

 

[jetison]

Will this be like Siri on Apple TV? 2 years and counting and still no Siri for Spanish (Argentina). At least with HomePod you can use it in English. The Apple TV is geolocked.

 

[nvmls]

Hilarious how they keep putting out products with half-baked features and people still buy them day 1.
Wonder what Steve's view would be on how their marketing/sales exec colleagues are exploiting the brand economically since he's been gone, he would justify these mediocre gen 1 products because they still sell tons? Never seen him put out one (not that they were always perfect).

 

[ktecac]

I was excited about the HomePod, but amazon came to Canada first. I now have an echo in every room, and probably will ditch Apple Music sooner rather than later (I signed up for Spotify and it’s amazingly better).

Too little too late.

Jokes on you - you're stuck using an Echo.

 

[44267547]

Hilarious how they keep putting out products with half-baked features and people still buy them day 1.

Have you ever used the HomePod? When would you expect the consumer to actually purchase the HomePod if it's not on day one? Day two?

Wonder what Steve's view would be on how their marketing/sales exec colleagues are exploiting the brand economically since he's been gone.

Why does Steve Jobs name have to be brought into the equation for every Apple product/marketing when it doesn't have to be?

 

[Jesse Waugh]

What a ridiculous price.

But if it flops they'll just cover it up like they did with the Apple Watch. I actually hope these surveillance speakers go the way of the dodo.