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

[Jesse Waugh]

Interesting you've already heard how it sounds and played with it to come to such a conclusion. Since we don't have your access, we'll have to wait to reserve judgment on value.
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Think about what you just said.

I postulated an argument. Care to contest?

 

[jsmith189]

How many countries does Amazon Echo and Google Home support?

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

And this was a valid counter-point. Amazon and Google are both worldwide competitors, both have smart speakers on the market, and both (last time I checked - it may have changed by now) only supported English. It's not like Apple's competitors are open to everyone worldwide and Apple is being limiting in their support.

So while the concern was valid, so was the counter-point. It's not fair to point fingers at one when everyone else is doing the same.

 

[Keirasplace]

If find that a rather poor business attitude. A company should try to fulfill its customers needs equally in all their markets. That‘s what Apple‘s competitors do as well. Alexa works almost everywhere and is so much better than Siri.

Here in Austria we have to pay much more for their products, yet we only get a fraction of their festures. And I‘m not speaking of ‚America first‘ and other countries a few months later - we simply don‘t get some of their services (like iTunes radio in the past or Siri on Apple TV now). There‘s no technical reason for that - it‘s simply ignorance.

Actually, it doesn't work just about everywhere (Alexa), it's in english and distribution is not worldwide either. So what IS YOUR POINT. Do you have a point?

As for Alexa, it's only "better" in its niche, not everywhere, far from it. If I call Siri from my watch for example, Alexa has no chance to "beat" Siri. And yes, I have tried it.

The main reason is that it is a new product, with a limited availability at launch that they need to make sure it works 100% well and is supported adequately before risking a wider rollout. They did the same thing for the watch which took a hell of a long time (12 months before being distributed widely worldwide).

When it comes to content, the issue is mostly licensing which can be a bitch to negotiate.
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I've set my iPhone to English - as Siri "knows" most of its tricks when it's set to English. The only problem is that when it's set to English, it doesn't really understand (nor can it correctly pronounce) German names of people or towns.

This is especially a problem when you're dealing with towns or addresses that have umlauts.

Yes, got the same problem in French (my phone is set to british english though I speak canadian english with a slight french accent and I live in Montreal). It still understands me though so Siri is fine .

This is bad no matter what assistant you use, in mixed settings like here, they are BAD.

I can't ask for french songs, mention french names or french local names (though I can make it learn by going phonetic in the edit box )

 

[Woyzeck]

Actually, it doesn't work just about everywhere (Alexa), it's in english and distribution is not worldwide either. So what IS YOUR POINT. Do you have a point?

As for Alexa, it's only "better" in its niche, not everywhere, far from it. If I call Siri from my watch for example, Alexa has no chance to "beat" Siri. And yes, I have tried it.

The main reason is that it is a new product, with a limited availability at launch that they need to make sure it works 100% well and is supported adequately before risking a wider rollout. They did the same thing for the watch which took a hell of a long time (12 months before being distributed widely worldwide).

Well, my Echo Dot is quite good in understanding my Austrian German, not to say that Amazon provides plenty of localized content. Furthermore it‘s undoubtedly better in English speech recognition than Siri on all my devices.
I have no experience with Google, though.

 

[LordVic]

If find that a rather poor business attitude. A company should try to fulfill its customers needs equally in all their markets. That‘s what Apple‘s competitors do as well. Alexa works almost everywhere and is so much better than Siri.

Here in Austria we have to pay much more for their products, yet we only get a fraction of their festures. And I‘m not speaking of ‚America first‘ and other countries a few months later - we simply don‘t get some of their services (like iTunes radio in the past or Siri on Apple TV now). There‘s no technical reason for that - it‘s simply ignorance.

Oh I understand. I’m in Canada. And it’s the same. Despite being their bloody neighbour!

Apples prices in Canada are roughly 30 tp 40% higher than USA, before tax. And some products take a lot longer to release. We share the worlds largest undefeated border, with a large free trade agreement, and Apple treats us about the same as well... Austria.

 

[nick42983]

Doesn't the home pod support Airplay? I'd assume you can use it as a speaker for your mac, playing anything you've selected?

I do agree the wording on Apple's site is confusing.

I've heard different things, I assume it does work with your Mac, but I've also heard it won't play your music if it wasn't purchased from iTunes. I think Apple is being intentionally vague because there are too many unpleasant surprises with this device.

 

[casik]

How confirmed is this? I am thinking about going down to the US to grab one or two and I don't want to get home to find that a Canadian Apple Music account or iCloud account can't use it.