Looking to Grab a HomePod Before They're Gone? These Retailers Still Have Stock

[sflagel]

It sounds so good that you would need two to sound even better.

Which speaker is better at this price? I’ll go and buy it tonight.

 

[sflagel]

Seriously. Bluetooth is inferior to AirPlay in every way.

Just a free option, for people that don’t have Apple products.

 

[Macaday]

Such a shame. I don't know of any product that has a better sound at this price. The fact that it also seamlessly integrates with the Airplay 2 network and Siri so that you can truly control the music in any room in our house, from any room in your house, with your voice or the Home App, is icing on the cake.
$ 300 for this speaker is nothing, this company sells little earsticks for $ 200 and headphones for $ 550.
What speaker for $ 300 sounds better?
All it needed was Bluetooth.

The Sonos One comes close enough, is £100 cheaper and can connect to pretty much any music service. As much as I loved HomePod, that's why it didn't sell.

 

[sflagel]

Please remove if not allowed!

I ranted about this a little bit here:

I don’t think it was “too expensive.” I think they were aiming at the wrong market. People are more than ok with “ok” audio that has the smart elements nailed. Apple tried to take the high-quality audio first approach and it didn’t work. Why spend 350$-400$ when you could buy several Echo or Google Home devices? Also, it was so locked down at launch, an odd choice IMO. It’s improved greatly but a little too late.

What functionality do people want from a “smart speaker”. I ask the weather, the time, set a timer, play the news, set reminder, dim the lights. Siri can do that, what do people actually do with a smart speaker other than this simple stuff?

 

[sflagel]

What functionality is more important on a speaker than its ability to play music that sounds good?

 

[sflagel]

I wonder how often you upgrade your phone? Most people upgrade their much more expensive phone every 2-3 years. I'm sure your HomePod will continue to function for many years to come. Why getting yourself all riled up?

Which is exactly why Apple discontinued the HP. No upgrade cycle.

 

[sflagel]

Exactly. It’s their escape from their surroundings. They’d only use speakers if they had their own house all to themselves which no young people do. And sadly many adults become too busy to sit and listen to music.

Not even when she is alone in the house. Listening to music on speakers feels unnatural to her.

 

[diamornte]

I wonder how often you upgrade your phone? Most people upgrade their much more expensive phone every 2-3 years. I'm sure your HomePod will continue to function for many years to come. Why getting yourself all riled up?

Why get upset? Don't tell me how to feel. I bought into this product with the expectation that it would NOT be discontinued. Apple screwed us over.

 

[forrie]

This doesn't surprise me at all; I suspected this was likely to occur.

I don't even use mine anymore. The sounds is incredible, but even streaming to it from my Macbook Pro 16,1 (Big Sur) is problematic, choppy at times. I have Sonos now. Not as great, but it's a lot more consistent.

Not sure what else we could do with the HomePod -- if I could get consistent sound performance, that would be great. Not sure we could jailbreak it or if that would have any benefit.

 

[diamornte]

I wonder if we could possibly return HomePods to Apple that we bought recently, not knowing they would cancel these?

 

[hagar]

why buy a discontinued product that relies entirely on online services and compatibility with other devices? Sooner or later you'll end up with nothing more than an Airplay speaker.

 

[ignatius345]

This is a prime example of what happens when you start to build solutions to problems that don't exist in your current line up. Let speaker companies build speakers. Focus on your core product roadmap, not these one off weirdo projects.

If anything there should have been a replacement for the AirPort basestations that had speaker integrated for Siri. Maybe build a HomePod mini with wifi mesh.

I always thought (and hoped) they'd develop a smart speaker ecosystem around the HomePod. With hardware that nice, it seems a waste there were never standalone apps that one could install, and an App Store for developers to use to sell them.

Just off the top of my head: language learning apps, audio communication tools, interactive audio games, background sounds. And honestly I'm sure that if developers were provided the tools and access, they could invent a whole category of new things on the platform.

But for it to just be an AirPlay speaker with a middling assistant (Siri) built in? Kind of a missed opportunity TBH.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Ironic that everyone wants the gray one. I got a white one, and then read that there are instructions somewhere on the internets for taking the sleeve off and dying it a different color. Well, I don't think Apple Care would like that. Guess I have 2 years to wait to try that. Maybe orange, with a face on it...

Your jib… referring specifically to the cut of it. I like it.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

If anything there should have been a replacement for the AirPort basestations that had speaker integrated for Siri. Maybe build a HomePod mini with wifi mesh.

Nah, they should let wireless networking companies build WiFi mesh base stations. And they did.

 

[SirAnthonyHopkins]

Ideally we'd get both.

Bluetooth, however, is a particularly galling omission given that the hardware for bluetooth is already present inside the HomePod. I guess that would give hope that they might add that functionality via a SW update, but I would bet against it.

Apple doesn't really enable brand new functionality like that, via updates, on totally abandoned hardware.

Far more likely and in character would be an all new device that offers more options from the get go.
I also find that unlikely though.

I think Apple might be done in this space for a bit, save for the HP Mini's.

I feel like updating the airport express to work with airplay 2 is the closest comparison? It’s possible that they issue a software update to allow bluetooth connections to better allow people to keep using them. Would be a fairly straightforward PR win in a few years when they’re no longer available new and there’s no loss to Apple for doing it.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

What functionality do people want from a “smart speaker”. I ask the weather, the time, set a timer, play the news, set reminder, dim the lights. Siri can do that, what do people actually do with a smart speaker other than this simple stuff?

The main limitations I see for Siri in pretty much any list that’s been produced in the area where Apple would be required to dig through your personal data or search history to pull out inferences. That, plus the app “agents” that give third parties access to the same data. The things you indicate are 99.9% of everything I’d want from Siri. I kinda want an ‘and’ but not so much that I’m not satisfied with what I have.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Your jib… referring specifically to the cut of it. I like it.

Or maybe something like this:

Think of the possibilities if someone had a printer that could print on that mesh. The sky would be the limit. Wow...

OH, I got it!!!

Wilson!!!

 

[ignatius345]

Nah, they should leave it to other companies to make WiFi mesh base stations. And they did.

Why though? AirPort routers were absolutely rock solid. I've no doubt Apple could build a very good mesh system if they wanted to.

And I know I, for one, would be happy to buy from Apple versus, say, a company like Eero which is owned by Amazon.

 

[neoelectronaut]

I got tired of waiting for the Homepod to be announced/released after numerous delays and ended up buying a pair of bookshelf speakers.

Now the damn thing is gonna be discontinued completely. What a shame, as I did want one at some point.

 

[sracer]

Well, this article is one way to help clear out current stock faster.

 

[caligurl]

Definitely not worth it. Especially with reports (anecdotal, to be sure, but never the less) that they start having major component breakdown problems around the 2 year mark.

Not even at the 2 year mark! One of mine is just over 1 year old.... died... kaput! Apple would replace it for a whopping $279!!!! I only paid $199 and could have gotten it for $269 with the military discount (before being discontinued). I just replaced it with a mini and moved one of my other large ones into the office to put back the stereo pair!.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I got tired of waiting for the Homepod to be announced/released after numerous delays and ended up buying a pair of bookshelf speakers.

Now the damn thing is gonna be discontinued completely. What a shame, as I did want one at some point.

You can't use another pair of speakers?

 

[subjonas]

Not even when she is alone in the house. Listening to music on speakers feels unnatural to her.

She’s probably just very used to headphones at this point.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Why though? AirPort routers were absolutely rock solid. I've no doubt Apple could build a very good mesh system if they wanted to.

And I know I, for one, would be happy to buy from Apple versus, say, a company like Eero which is owned by Amazon.

That is what I kind of liked about Cisco, early on. They got into markets they thought they could own, and their CEO at the time said they go 'all in'. Well, they kinda lost it for a while. Who knows where they are now. *shrug*

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Exactly. It’s their escape from their surroundings. They’d only use speakers if they had their own house all to themselves which no young people do. And sadly many adults become too busy to sit and listen to music.

"Turn on, tune in, drop out" - Timothy Leary

Quick, tell her an old fart thought of it first, and she might come around!