Ming-Chi Kuo Says Apple Considering Lower-Priced HomePod After Potentially Lackluster Sales

[CarpalMac]

A smart home device that isn't smart and doesn't integrate with much, not even with itself, and yet has a whopper of a premium price tag. Just being expensive, doesn't make something good.

It is a poster child for a Fail Meme and worse, is a clear demonstration of how Apple are now skating to where the puck was.

 

[NT1440]

Ah, so it’s rumor rehash day. For anyone unaware, a mini HomePod has been rumored for months. Now all that needs to be done is pair that rumor with supply chain rumors and you’ve got another pointless squabble thread here at MR

 

[neoelectronaut]

If it's cheaper but sounds worse, what's the point?

 

[BoricuaHec01]

I want to purchase one but just waiting for the price to go down just a bit, too expensive to say the least. I wonder if I'll have to wait until next never.

 

[9081094]

A smaller $150 'brain' still isn't going to interest consumers if the brain isn't as smart as the competition.
I'd say that consumers don't want the speaker because of the walled garden approach, and Siri's blatant not-as-smart-as-google/alexa problem.

Apple are way behind the curve here. Any user can have an equal or better sounding home assistant speaker setup for less money using either google's or amazon's more intelligent AI and hardware that can fit into their current speaker system.

A cheaper (but still not as cheap as the competition) voice led assistant from Apple, is still a poor quality rival next to say, Alexa and a couple of Sonos Ones.

There's just no reality distortion field here that is gonna do it for Apple this time.

Apple is getting dangerously behind in almost every category they once dominated. Name one category they still excel above the competition... I can't really not think of any today.

 

[Denmac1]

Until they bring Siri's AI level up, I would not invest in Homepod. The concept is decent, however I don't care for Apple Music at this point. I know I could stream from my own library, but Homepod is too much an unfinished device. Price point needs to be under $300. As I know some praise TC for 'leadership' and stock value, IMHO, he dropped the ball on this one. Jony or not, he is still the one to do the final sign off on product release and I believe they were too late to the party. To me, this is still a beta product. To those that have already bought...thanks for your contribution to development, perhaps the product will evolve as the Watch has. My confidence in TC is waning....quickly

 

[trichardlin]

Honest question from someone who never uses Siri: is it really that bad? ...

It seems worse than Siri on my phone.

If Siri is the only assistant around, it might be OK. But I also have Amazon Echo Dot, and Siri is way worse than Alexa.

I use HomePod because of the sound and Airplay. (I replaced my $3000 speakers with it.) I don't have a need to talk to an assistant.

 

[gnipgnop]

Except that $349 is not a high price for speakers/headphones at all, regardless of whether they have "smart" features like Siri or not. That's the reason Apple emphasizes the music aspect first and not Siri. HomePod wasn't released to compete against $99-$199 speakers. It was released to compete against $300-$500 speakers.

 

[itsmilo]

If it wasn’t for those negative news for the last few days I literally would have forgotten that it even existed

 

[PlainviewX]

It's a $199 product at best.

 

[9081094]

Instead of a “lower priced HomePod” why not just lower the price of the HomePod ?

Great idea because it's delivering half of what the competition does you should expect half the price.

 

[jadot]

Apple is getting dangerously behind in almost every category they once dominated. Name one category they still excel above the competition... I can't really not think of any today.

Not sure if you're agreeing with me or arguing against me here, but thanks for your comment.

 

[rmoliv]

Make it available in my country and I’ll buy one. Or simply just don’t release a product before all the features are operational and it’s ready for international release...

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Honest question from someone who never uses Siri: is it really that bad? I mean is it so bad that it won’t understand basic, everyday commands? What so wrong with it?

Good questions to put to Siri and maybe a few more. Ask her about a dozen+ questions. Make about a dozen basic requests. Then you'll know.

 

[gnipgnop]

Honest question from someone who never uses Siri: is it really that bad? I mean is it so bad that it won’t understand basic, everyday commands? What so wrong with it?

No, it works as you would expect if you follow Apple's examples of how to use Siri on the HomePod. That said, it's not exactly the same in terms of function as Siri on iPhone/Mac, so that has to be taken into consideration;.

 

[1498032]

Good. It should fail. It's a $350 Apple Music box. If they wanted anyone to buy it they should've had native support for all major streaming services. And if they want to grow revenue via services, the way to do that is NOT by gimping their products if you don't use an Apple service, it's by actually investing money in creating the best service on ALL platforms. Apple Music is not better than Spotify even on iOS, and the experience is much worse on Android. It's reminiscent of how bad and out of place iTunes always was on Windows. Apple just can't seem to comprehend why anyone would want to use any product or service that's not created by Apple, and they're making their own products worse because of it.

 

[Jjayf]

How about releasing this in other countries such as Canada!!! Uggg. I understand that the delayed release in Canada is likely due to our ridiculous Canadian Government licensing issues, but common Apple, this is your business and ducks should have been rowed up before release.

 

[spiderman0616]

Honest question from someone who never uses Siri: is it really that bad? I mean is it so bad that it won’t understand basic, everyday commands? What so wrong with it?

It's really not for us.

I'm running the following smart devices through our HomePod:

Hue lighting (I think between 20 and 30 bulbs last time I counted)
August smart lock
Chamberlain MyQ garage door opener
A random smart outlet in our front room.

We also use it for Apple Music every day, setting timers, asking for weather and traffic, asking for baseball stats, playing the news in the morning, playing podcasts, etc.

My family has really taken to it. The kids love using it to turn the lights on and off, and it's really great to be able to say "Hey Siri, I'm leaving" and know that all the lights will turn off and the front door will lock without me having to walk all over the house and double check. We also like telling it to set scenes for when we're watching movies or going to bed for the night or whatever else we can think of. Yes--a lot of that function is because of the Hue system, but it wouldn't be nearly as cool without the HomePod being able to take voice commands.

When we have family gatherings or we're just entertaining in general, it has been a big hit. People love being able to tell it what music to play. The only time it really misfires is if the person asks for a song by the wrong name. Yes, there are odd times where it just doesn't hear you right, but that's usually when there are a lot of people talking at once or it's just really loud in the house.

It seems that the media is determined to doom this device. It's unfortunate. We're really enjoying ours and I think my whole family would definitely miss it if it were gone at this point.

 

[Applebot1]

If Apple serious about this segment maybe they should buy Sonos.

 

[redscull]

Price isn't the problem. Siri is the problem. Lack of bluetooth, inputs, and third party apps is a problem. Likely short lifespan is a problem (I expect a speaker to last 10+ years, but like all Apple products, I'm sure this will EOL in 3-5).

 

[prasand]

The pressure is on. When the world is talking about how much Siri sucks, it begins to affect brand image and Apple can't ignore it.

 

[Doomtomb]

This is Apple saying 'Me Too' in response to the Echo and the Google Home.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

> Apple Considering Lower-Priced HomePod After Potentially Lackluster Sales

Uh, we have that already. It's called Amazon Echo and Google Home. Focus on building a better Siri and people will buy more. Apple should never compete on price because that's not why people buy Apple products.

Actually, we already have HP "smarts" in the <half-the-price TV. And it brings benefits of a dedicated app store, access to music services other than just AM and it doesn't discriminate against our own music ripped from CDs. Hook it to whatever quality speakers one desires and you also ALREADY get stereo too. Hook it to a 5.1 or 7.1 setup and you get real- not faux- 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound too. All that already "just works" and doesn't have to wait on "...just one software update away"

Since it probably hooks to your choice of quality of speakers, you probably do that though a receiver or amp, both of which are likely to come with industry-standard connections- probably abundantly- so that other stuff that can produce audio can share the very same speakers too. Imagine that! I know, I know... it's crazy to think of using good speakers to play any audio other than Apple-sourced audio. But it actually works like that instead of being so thoroughly locked down. Note: I've checked with the Ripley's Believe it or Not people. All they would say about this insanity is: "Believe it."

Bonus: TV can also play video!!!

 

[gnipgnop]

Make about a dozen basic requests. Then you'll know.

Or you could just read Apple's guidelines on what Siri can be used for on HomePod. It's not really that hard. Use it for those things and there isn't really any problem. Use for things Apple never says that it supports and you'll have an issue.

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

HomePod is appropriately priced IF:

1. Siri gets smarter.
2. Device is feature complete.
3. Can be used with third-party streaming services.

OR

4. People don’t care about Siri’s smarts (or lack thereof) and only use Apple Music.

#4 for me and we love it. It replaced our 2011 Bose Sound Link BT in the kitchen. We tried the full size Echo last year but the sound was not as good at the Bose. The "assistant" stuff does not matter to us, great sound does and Apple ecosystem compatibility next.