I bought two of these over the years when they were on sale at $199. For that price, they are amazing.
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Looking to Grab a HomePod Before They're Gone? These Retailers Still Have Stock
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All they needed was a line in/optical in and a way for other phones to work. Oh, and a cheaper price. At £199 they might have sold much better.
It's strange that Apple can sell headphones at extortionate prices, but struggle to sell a speaker.
Maybe they have another model coming, to compete with Amazon Echo Studio and all the other speakers around the £150-£200 mark.
They have an HomePod Mini, there will be another higher-end version, let's wait and see what Apple shows.
It's strange that Apple can sell headphones at extortionate prices, but struggle to sell a speaker.
Maybe they have another model coming, to compete with Amazon Echo Studio and all the other speakers around the £150-£200 mark.
They have an HomePod Mini, there will be another higher-end version, let's wait and see what Apple shows.
For me, it was a speaker; a very good one. Doesn't everyone need good speakers? "Functionality" was an extra and I am still surprised that people compromise on sound quality, and prefer a sub-par speaker so they can ask how the weather will be that day. Why do people care about Siri on a speaker? What do people ask a speaker to do: "turn on the living room lights"; "how will the weather be today"; "remind me at 10 to feed the dog". Siri can do that....
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IMHO the lesson Apple has to learn is not about marketing and segmentation, but good old product design and completeness. The HomePod was fundamentally flawed from the get go, mostly aimed at Apple Music enthusiasts with little room to spare. Also, Siri is still the stuff of facepalms.
Apple please enable Bluetooth before you kill AirPlay in some future iOS update. i have got 3 of things and hope they don’t become paperweights.
Apple won't, it's planned obsolescence.
Yeah i agree with everything you say and the HomePods are superb for sound which is why a lot of people are happy with them including me. Unfortunately, I suppose it’s a case of when Apple will stop supporting the HomePods in terms of software updates and further integration into their ecosystem. Hopefully it will be a few years but we just don’t know.And this is why I bought another HomePod when I learned Apple was discontinuing them. While I own 3 Mini's and the sound is "good", the HomePod - Big, sounds way better. I own 3 of them as well. I wanted to enjoy better sounds/base and can get one new for $150 - why not!
I anticipate Apple making a new version at some point but it's not going to have the same quality as previous. It's going to be a cheaper version. Will it be newer and better? Probably. Still cheaper though.
I don't need line in, I use Apple Music, I am happy with Siri and I can have music in every corner of my home. Where Apple made the mistake, $399 for speaker. $199 out of the gate would have changed the game.
I do struggle to understand where Apple are going with Home based products, Siri, smart homes and intelligent speakers. It’s almost as if they tinkered with it but not really invested much R&D
it's a speaker that has no bluetooth and no aux in...
once apple support ends, it's dead in the water
I don’t see the point buying a discontinued product. How long will Apple continue to support it and provide software updates?
I don’t think there is anything “planned“ about it. The product failed in the market, so they are moving on. I’m glad I bought mine used.
I wanted better sound for my TV. Before I picked up a pair of Homepods, at $199, I had tried a Sonos Beam and a decent stereo Integrated amp with speakers but neither gave me the combination of convenience and sound quality that I was looking for. The HomePods work very well with my Apple TV and iTunes library. Good sound with a single remote or Siri for control. Just what I wanted. I don’t care about any extra functionality and as long as they still work I am happy.
Still very upset by this news as an owner of several HomePods, mini and non-mini. This feels like a slap in the face to people who bought these, hoping for upgrades, & future software service/improvements. If I knew they would do this, I would not have bought these. Can’t help but feel cheated - like this retired hardware was just a blatant cash grab.
You can say that not every business introduces a major product entry into a new market, then pulls it after selling it to so many people. This behavior is INEXCUSABLE.
You can say that not every business introduces a major product entry into a new market, then pulls it after selling it to so many people. This behavior is INEXCUSABLE.
My question really is at what point do they stop providing security updates and does it then become a risk in my network? I'm pretty sure they'll be able to access Apple Music and be used for AirPlay for some time yet.
that part! Apple sells other products that some also consider niche at high af prices with no problem. I believe the issue was lack of inputs, price, and marketing. Apple marketed the h*** out of the mini at $99 and they don’t have inputs, etc. Apple could easily update the HomePod with the same features in the mini, lower the price to $199USD, and actually market them and these would sell much better. I’d go as far as to state I’d sacrifice a little bit of sound if it keeps the product going but the sound quality is the number one reason I went with the HomePod. I even kept a number of them on the original release HomePodOS as the sound quality is better than the current. Apple should have added an Equalizer to them instead of forcing users to use whatever music app is allowed to adjust sound settings. Those are easy fixes.
Adding ATMOS and a lot of features with the last update then suddenly discontinuing the product without even trying to make it work is disappointing.
Line-in and BT would have enabled a useful life far beyond the support of the software features.
Apparently, the sales show that a lot of people share your opinion.
Sure, for the apple bubble it's likely the best home speaker ever created.
Agree but if they’re keeping the mini wouldn’t updates be simple? Does the mini run HomePodOS or a version of tvOS? Either way, maintaining the software shouldn’t be difficult. Apple has the resources to make it work or at least support it for a few years.
