AppleBar incoming... Dolby Atmos, Siri, Thread, AppleTV integrated, homepod minis as satellites...boom...
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Looking to Grab a HomePod Before They're Gone? These Retailers Still Have Stock
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Totally agree. In fact, it became my favorite Apple product since I bought it. And I almost regret not buying two more (I have 2 of them already). Now I’m sure if I ever find it anywhere the price will be insane.
It's hardly horrible, I don't even know how you'd start to set up a stereo experience with two speakers of such different quality. You can tell both speakers to output audio at once, if that helps? But not in a stereo arrangement because that wouldn't even make sense.
Looks like Tim Twerdahl is Apple VP Product Marketing Apple TV, HomePod, AirPods (https://www.linkedin.com/in/twerdahl)
Siri can already be used with other speakers. I’ve used it with my JBL Pulse.
Where are the years worth of people who told me:
1. Apple knows what it's doing, it wouldn't produce this product if there weren't people to buy it.
2. HomePod was a better buy than Sonos One.
Allow to me to say: I told you so.
1. Apple makes mistakes, and the original HomePod was a mistake from day one.
2. The Sonos One is $199 (often found on sale for $169), and does Apple Music and much much more, and has Alexa, instead of worthless Siri.
Even for someone "deeply in the Apple ecosystem", the HomePod is still an overpriced paper weight. The handful of uniquely Apple things it can do are not worth it. I'm am never going to take a phone call on the thing. And I don't shout across the room to perform private tasks, nor to control home accessories. That's obnoxious and impractical in the real world, especially when I wear an Apple Watch and can whisper the same command.4
I like the HomePod mini at $99 for the intercom feature. That's it.
1. Apple knows what it's doing, it wouldn't produce this product if there weren't people to buy it.
2. HomePod was a better buy than Sonos One.
Allow to me to say: I told you so.
1. Apple makes mistakes, and the original HomePod was a mistake from day one.
2. The Sonos One is $199 (often found on sale for $169), and does Apple Music and much much more, and has Alexa, instead of worthless Siri.
Even for someone "deeply in the Apple ecosystem", the HomePod is still an overpriced paper weight. The handful of uniquely Apple things it can do are not worth it. I'm am never going to take a phone call on the thing. And I don't shout across the room to perform private tasks, nor to control home accessories. That's obnoxious and impractical in the real world, especially when I wear an Apple Watch and can whisper the same command.4
I like the HomePod mini at $99 for the intercom feature. That's it.
I've been using one at home and another one at the office. I use it all day to listen to music while working/relaxing. As soon as I hear Apple is discontinuing them I immediately went out and bought another one so that I can have a stereo pair at home.
It's pricey but the sound quality is amazing with 0 effort of setting up (no wirings too). I will use them until they're dead or until Apple comes out with better products which I think will be awhile.
It's pricey but the sound quality is amazing with 0 effort of setting up (no wirings too). I will use them until they're dead or until Apple comes out with better products which I think will be awhile.
Probably at an inflated price point as well. Not normally one to complain about Apple products in general, but, they need to get back to making good stuff that isn’t just glued together.
AirPlay 2 has nothing to do with the AppleTV -- any Apple device has it from Mac to iPhone to iPad to iPod Touch. If you don't have any Apple devices, then you definitely don't want to get a HomePod (indeed you can't even set it up without an iPad or iPhone...)
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This is such a bean counting decision. No doubt sales were low and it wasn't making the 30%+ margin a product requires to justify its place in the line up, but the people who bought it loved it, and they are the hardcore Apple fans who have a house filled with apple hardware and live happily within the apple ecosystem. It leaves these people with a bitter taste and erodes the 'halo' effect of the Apple brand, which affects other purchases. They do the same thing with the Mac Pro products which go years without refreshes. The high end market may be small, but it is the most premium product, can you imagine Mercedes treating its S Class buyers like this?
If the criteria for success was higher sales volume, they had the option of opening the walled garden (line in, Spotify, Pandora) and lowering the price. Positioning it as a high priced closed system was always going to result in a niche product.
It also means that in the future, anyone wanting a good quality speaker has no Apple option. If those people buy Sonos they will be taking a step outside the walled garden and might not look back. I have four HomePods and three HomePod minis, but I just bought a Sonos Arc soundbar because Apple doesn't sell one. It annoys me that it doesn't have native Siri, but the sound quality is fantastic.
If the criteria for success was higher sales volume, they had the option of opening the walled garden (line in, Spotify, Pandora) and lowering the price. Positioning it as a high priced closed system was always going to result in a niche product.
It also means that in the future, anyone wanting a good quality speaker has no Apple option. If those people buy Sonos they will be taking a step outside the walled garden and might not look back. I have four HomePods and three HomePod minis, but I just bought a Sonos Arc soundbar because Apple doesn't sell one. It annoys me that it doesn't have native Siri, but the sound quality is fantastic.
@tone654
I think the problem stems from Apple seeing simple hardware sales and margins as "not enough" anymore.
The HomePod, despite fantastic hardware, seemed to be mainly seen by Apple as a conduit for their services (primarily Apple Music, thus the lockdown on options).
Honesty, if that stays as is, it's not great for me as a potential long term Apple customer.
I find their services to be mostly mediocre if I'm being honest.
I think the problem stems from Apple seeing simple hardware sales and margins as "not enough" anymore.
The HomePod, despite fantastic hardware, seemed to be mainly seen by Apple as a conduit for their services (primarily Apple Music, thus the lockdown on options).
Honesty, if that stays as is, it's not great for me as a potential long term Apple customer.
I find their services to be mostly mediocre if I'm being honest.
If people are so dedicated to their own misery that they're using Android, they don't deserve to use my HomePod either.
There are other reasons people have Android devices.
Sometimes it's a work device that a person has no say about.
Must we bag on others just for being in a different ecosystem?
Maybe they are in both and/or would like the flexibility?
(I use Windows and macOS, both, daily - for instance)
I hear you.
I just cringe when this place goes the direction of how over zealous Tesla folks can get.
I don't like criticizing different choices because we have imperfect information on why people might be needing (or wanting) to choose what they choose.
Not all Windows or Android users are "idiots" or "lacking class", etc, etc
(I know you didn't say anything like that - just echoing some of the tone I've seen around here before)
Apple DOES know what it’s doing. People bought it and people are still buying the ones they can find! If the HomePod caused Apple to fail as a company and liquidate assets, THEN they wouldn’t know what they’re doing. This? This was releasing the hardware when the technology was ready, then iterating that into a smaller version. What will they do with what they’ve learned? Probably make millions in the future on some new product. What’s interesting is that, as a short term product, Apple saw more company value in a smart speaker than a Mini Pro Tower or networking hardware
AND everyone should notice that these were found in the same passage of text
“And I don't shout across the room to perform private tasks, nor to control home accessories.”
and
“The Sonos One… has Alexa, instead of worthless Siri.”
Essentially, “I don’t use voice commands, BUT IT’S BETTER THAT SONOS HAD ONE THING THAT I DON’T USE INSTEAD OF THE OTHER THING THAT I DON’T USE!!!”
Just think back to the "Apple is doomed" era, where Micheal Dell was saying Apple should close shop and return the investment to the share holders. Tesla has been in as "Tesla is doomed" era for most of its existence complete with massive stock shorting, etc. It does harden the their loyal users.
But, this is more like criticizing someone’s choice of to purchase hexhead nuts and bolts to fasten wood together when all they have is a hammer. I’m sure they could still get it done, but, if ALL you have is a hammer, maybe focus more on the nails side of the aisle?
The first ominous sign was when they killed Aperture. Then, when they let the Cinema Display die on the vine and started selling the fugly LG monitor instead, you knew Apple's core value as an aesthetic brand went out the window. Then, when they got reanimated and publicly admitted the slow death of the trashcan Mac Pro only after being decried by users, you knew they just didn't care about anything but the bottomline.
I still don't get how they concluded that refreshing premium products with a solid following was "too niche", but then banked on new product categories mortally codependent on proprietary services as a viable offering. I don't get their infinite lead times with existing product refreshes and innovating with a driptube, but when a first version of a product underperforms they cynically kill it off completely. "Bean counting" sums it up well. Pity Apple has come to that.
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more like this happened because Apple put out a very good speaker with useless software.
I’m there with you. It’s exhausting hearing people complain that Siri can’t do “Trivia” - I use Siri to automate / control my smart home, scheduling, messaging, calling, listening to music etc. For those things Siri is superb.
Even if that’s all you use Siri for, it still definitely isn’t “superb”. The amount of times I ask for a song and Siri can’t find it, or pulls up a random live or cover version instead of the original, or any other error, is unbelievable.
It also struggles with really basic things like football results, which seems like a really straightforward thing to sort. It can’t even distinguish between (American) football and soccer in requests, and always gives me “sending to your phone” instead of just telling me the info.
yeah, it can handle things like counting and transcribing messages as long as I don’t give it too many complicated words. So basically like a five-year-old child.
I guess I was thinking surround sound but forgot it can only pair 2 Homepods.