Speculative Report Claims 'Low-Priced' HomePod Will Fall Under Beats Brand

[npmacuser5]

Apple put the cart in front of the horse. Making Siri the best by releasing it on all the speakers they already had, Beats. Updating Airplay, making an integrated experience for all speakers, while developing the HomePod. Instead, put out a somewhat challenged high quality speaker. The smarts were just not there.

Interesting visit to the Apple store yesterday. iPhone X counter, busy with at least 5 sales while I was there. Right in the middle of all the iPhone X phones, a lone HomePod. If not for me, no other lookers. Zero interest from a packed Apple Store crowd. Every other Apple product getting a good deal of attention.

Will see if Apple can recover and bring it all together. They have a good track record, odds are favorable.

 

[spazzcat]

I have defended Siri at least as much as you and still use it for things like driving directions but now that I switched to a Dot/SmartThings system in my house I can see what people are talking about. I dreamed for years that I could simply ask Siri to wake me up at 7am to my favorite radio station like any normal clock radio but it wasn’t until I got the Dot that it was possible. Why was that so hard, Apple????

I will agree wish alarms would play music, but that is an iOS issue, not a Siri one.
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Apple put the cart in front of the horse. Making Siri the best by releasing it on all the speakers they already had, Beats. Updating Airplay, making an integrated experience for all speakers, while developing the HomePod. Instead, put out a somewhat challenged high quality speaker. The smarts were just not there.

Interesting visit to the Apple store yesterday. iPhone X counter, busy with at least 5 sales while I was there. Right in the middle of all the iPhone X phones, a lone HomePod. If not for me, no other lookers. Zero interest from a packed Apple Store crowd. Every other Apple product getting a good deal of attention.

Will see if Apple can recover and bring it all together. They have a good track record, odds are favorable.

One of the issues I see is people don't care about the quality of their music. They are used to use their free headphones from Apple and that is good enough for them.

 

[Krayzkat]

Every year I turn Siri on for a few minutes on my iPhone. Every year I find she's just as brain dead and useless as she was in 2011 and I turn her back off. It's quite amazing how in seven years, Apple hasn't made any progress on this front despite regularly promoting her.

Lol I’ve been doing the exact same thing

 

[manu chao]

That used to be the case. Recently, Apple products are routinely discounted just like every other brand. It started to be more common for their previous year's inventory to get price cuts to clear inventory. Now, newly released products get discounted as well. I think one of the most visible price cuts was Microcenter's $1000 price cut on the Mac Pro. That was followed by retailers like B&H and Best Buy offering cuts at varying rates. HomePod? Already discounted. Apple Watches? Same. Various years of MBP's? Yep, them too. It would actually be more surprising to find an Apple product that isn't available with a price cut.

Though not when purchased from Apple directly (stores or online), except via refurbished products (but that is not like a permanent price cut as availability varies a lot). I also think third-party resellers mostly discount Apple products only for limited time periods.

 

[robbyx]

One of the issues I see is people don't care about the quality of their music. They are used to use their free headphones from Apple and that is good enough for them.

I beg to differ. My home is wired up with many speakers that cost many times what a HomePod costs. People who care about audio quality aren’t shopping for speakers at an Apple Store.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Because the HP is made for listening to music, the Dot not so much, and I own both.

If "listening to music" is what the HP is for, then why call it a smart speaker? Why include Siri? For a $350 budget, you can do WAY BETTER in terms of audio quality for listening to music.

No, clearly the HP is made for a lot more than listening to music. It just happens to really stink at all those other things, so now it's ended up as only being good for listening to music, despite having a world-class SoC and connectivity. Like using a Porsche to ferry you around the gold course - sure it works and it's a really nice way to go around the golf course, but you're not exactly using that engine to its full potential.

 

[69Mustang]

Though not when purchased from Apple directly (stores or online), except via refurbished products (but that is not like a permanent price cut as availability varies a lot). I also think third-party resellers mostly discount Apple products only for limited time periods.

How many caveats are you going to add? Now the price cut has to be permanent? Can't have variability in price cut or limited time periods?

If it has to be either 1. from an Apple store or Apple online 2. permanent cut from 3rd party reseller or 3. no limited time offer, then yes I agree Apple products don't get discounted. But just to be safe, let's disqualify all BOGO promos from telecoms and "free with the purchase of" (ATV4K - Direct TV offer) offers as well.

 

[Someyoungguy]

It probably makes sense to sell a “dumb” speaker under the Beats name as just a BT peripheral for about $199. No Siri, no streaming, maybe airplay.

 

[spazzcat]

If "listening to music" is what the HP is for, then why call it a smart speaker? Why include Siri? For a $350 budget, you can do WAY BETTER in terms of audio quality for listening to music.

No, clearly the HP is made for a lot more than listening to music. It just happens to really stink at all those other things, so now it's ended up as only being good for listening to music, despite having a world-class SoC and connectivity. Like using a Porsche to ferry you around the gold course - sure it works and it's a really nice way to go around the golf course, but you're not exactly using that engine to its full potential.

They don't, go to Apple HP page and search on "Smart Speaker" you will get zero hits.

 

[itsmilo]

Fix Siri first, then worry about a low-cost HomePod.

And make Siri be the same on all devices, as a start.

They bought Siri and i guess everyone of the original team left soon after and they have no idea what to do with it

 

[oneMadRssn]

They don't, go to Apple HP page and search on "Smart Speaker" you will get zero hits.

They don't use those exact words, but they use synonyms and clearly describe it as a smart speaker. You aren't really debating the proposition that the HP is advertised for much more than just listening to music, are you??

 

[gaanee]

Since Apple was a late comer to join the smart-speaker category and voice assistant, they should have started with a comparable price or even slightly cheaper than Amazon and Google, even if that meant not offering top-of-the-line audio quality, make it attractive for customers to switch ... bring them into Apple's ecosystem first and then work their way up with a pro-version having better sounding speakers.
General perception among many users is that Siri is not even close to Alexa and Google, so they will hold out buying an expensive version 1.0 product.
For smart-speakers, voice assistant is more important than just the sound quality.

 

[Soccertess]

Fix Siri first, then worry about a low-cost HomePod.

And make Siri be the same on all devices, as a start.

i would say, fire siri, and allow us to use google now!

 

[sracer]

They don't use those exact words, but they use synonyms and clearly describe it as a smart speaker. You aren't really debating the proposition that the HP is advertised for much more than just listening to music, are you??


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It's all fun and games until SOMEBODY has to bring facts into the discussion.

I find the HomePod too restrictive for both of the primary functions... as a speaker for playing music or as a smart assistant. Whether it is the HomePod or Apple TV, they don't offer the flexibility that their competitors do... and at significantly lower prices. A "dumb" HomePod that operates as simply a bluetooth speaker (with aux input) at an appropriate price would be appealing to me.

 

[44267547]

I wish Siri on the HomePod could be used to play music from my iTunes server library. I have zero interest in AppleMusic (or any other service of this kind) but I could enjoy using Siri to play the music I kept organised and tagged already…

As much as I like the HomePod, you are correct. By purchasing HomePod, The customer is locked more into Apples ecosystem with Apple Music and of course iOS. I think eventually the HomePod should offer other services that expand to a wider variety of consumers that have other various playlists.

 

[spazzcat]

They don't use those exact words, but they use synonyms and clearly describe it as a smart speaker. You aren't really debating the proposition that the HP is advertised for much more than just listening to music, are you??


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I have no issue setting timers, playing music, getting the weather, etc, so yes, it does everyday tasks well.

Edit: Also, it is amazing at home automation stuff.

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It's all fun and games until SOMEBODY has to bring facts into the discussion.

I find the HomePod too restrictive for both of the primary functions... as a speaker for playing music or as a smart assistant. Whether it is the HomePod or Apple TV, they don't offer the flexibility that their competitors do... and at significantly lower prices. A "dumb" HomePod that operates as simply a bluetooth speaker (with aux input) at an appropriate price would be appealing to me.

You are not in Apples HomePod market.

 

[robbyx]

Since Apple was a late comer to join the smart-speaker category and voice assistant, they should have started with a comparable price or even slightly cheaper than Amazon and Google, even if that meant not offering top-of-the-line audio quality, make it attractive for customers to switch ... bring them into Apple's ecosystem first and then work their way up with a pro-version having better sounding speakers.
General perception among many users is that Siri is not even close to Alexa and Google, so they will hold out buying an expensive version 1.0 product.
For smart-speakers, voice assistant is more important than just the sound quality.

I don’t follow your logic. They should have released a cheaper speaker despite the fact that Siri is still less useful than Alexa or Assistant? Why would people switch? I think they were wrong to release HomePod in any form until they had the BEST assistant. If they’d waited another year or even two and then blown us away with the capabilities, they’d have a huge hit. If all you care about is audio quality, there are plenty of options out there. They’re not going to convince anyone to switch to HomePod based on audio quality. Alexa and Assistant do more than Siri and work with more products. Again, no reason to switch. When Apple entered other categories, be it MP3 player, routers, or smart watches, they offered something better. They failed to do this with HomePod.

 

[jamisonbaines]

I have defended Siri at least as much as you and still use it for things like driving directions but now that I switched to a Dot/SmartThings system in my house I can see what people are talking about. I dreamed for years that I could simply ask Siri to wake me up at 7am to my favorite radio station like any normal clock radio but it wasn’t until I got the Dot that it was possible. Why was that so hard, Apple????

I agree. Airplay 2 seems like something they should be able to sort out in a weekend but the wait just goes on for months and months. Seems like the ship is just too big to turn these days.

 

[spazzcat]

I agree. Airplay 2 seems like something they should be able to sort out in a weekend but the wait just goes on for months and months. Seems like the ship is just too big to turn these days.

Having music play perfectly and wirelessly with multiple speakers is very hard to do, and you have to do it without violating any patents out there already. They clearly ran into a major issue and been working on it for some time now. I believe/hope we are days away from the release of AirPlay 2.

 

[dampfnudel]

Can we stop comparing the HP to a $50 dot...

Yeah, makes much more sense to compare it to a very competitive and in some ways superior Sonos.

 

[gaanee]

Main reason is the voice assistant - Siri which doesn't seem to quite as good as Alexa or Google... that's why Apple would have had a better chance of getting people to buy the Homepod with a cheaper price point - that if someone really wanted Apple product over Amazon or Google.
Apple might be working on Siri improvements but if it's going to take another year or two and they wanted to get a foothold in the smart-speaker category otherwise risk conceding it to Amazon and Google during that time, their better option would have been offering a lower price to make it attractive for customers.

I don’t follow your logic. They should have released a cheaper speaker despite the fact that Siri is still less useful than Alexa or Assistant? Why would people switch? I think they were wrong to release HomePod in any form until they had the BEST assistant. If they’d waited another year or even two and then blown us away with the capabilities, they’d have a huge hit. If all you care about is audio quality, there are plenty of options out there. They’re not going to convince anyone to switch to HomePod based on audio quality. Alexa and Assistant do more than Siri and work with more products. Again, no reason to switch. When Apple entered other categories, be it MP3 player, routers, or smart watches, they offered something better. They failed to do this with HomePod.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I have no issue setting timers, playing music, getting the weather, etc, so yes, it does everyday tasks well.

Edit: Also, it is amazing at home automation stuff.

Cool man, I hope you enjoy it. Clearly a whole lot of the market thinks the cost is too high and the feature-set too low to be interested when compared against all the many options out there in the competition, and that is fine too.

Not . All . Apple . Products . Are . Winners.
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Having music play perfectly and wirelessly with multiple speakers is very hard to do, and you have to do it without violating any patents out there already. They clearly ran into a major issue and been working on it for some time now. I believe/hope we are days away from the release of AirPlay 2.

Not that synchronized multi-room audio isn't hard, it is, but Sonos has been doing it for a decade. If Apple only started thinking about it recently, that's entirely their own mistake. Can't blame it on patents or development delays. They should have had at least a few engineers working on this back in 2008 when Sonos started to really pushed their iOS apps and connected devices. At that point, AirPlay had been out for 4 years. Apple could have had the advantage if they didn't let it sit and stagnate.

 

[EdT]

Can we stop comparing the HP to a $50 dot...

No, you can’t. People either honestly can’t hear a difference or the fact that the HomePod costs $300.00 more is too big of a hurdle for them to overlook. And that’s ignoring how poorly Siri works as a personal assistant in comparison to Alexa and Google Home. This should have been expected by Apple marketing and either some creative commercial strategy put in place to channel expectations or Apple should have released a product that was capable of being favorably reviewed when comparisons like this were made, because such comparisons were inevitable.

 

[Mac 128]

Came here to write essentially this.

Also by branding it as Beats a lower performance tier doesn’t hurt the Apple brand.

Yup, I'm surprised no one predicted this coming. It makes perfect sense.

Indeed, I'm very curious to see what Apple does with a Beats branded AirPod now ...

 

[Michael Goff]

They don't use those exact words, but they use synonyms and clearly describe it as a smart speaker. You aren't really debating the proposition that the HP is advertised for much more than just listening to music, are you??


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And it does everything they advertise it to do.