I really don’t know how so many people keep missing this: Apple has already set the groundwork for HomePod to beat Alexa Skills. Siri Shortcuts have been expanding HomePod’s capabilities with already
hundreds thousands* of “skills” in the months since it came out.
Things that weren’t possible at launch are now a part of HomePod owners’ routine and Apple didn’t have to program those skills in. All it takes is for developers of
existing apps to flip a switch in X Code to enable Shortcuts. I emphasized
existing because unlike Alexa skills that have to be programmed specifically for Alexa, apps that can be accessed by HomePod already exist in the World’s biggest App Store. All it takes is developers to turn them on. So it’s not a matter of if HomePod will match and beat Alexa’s skills, but when. And that
when is getting here way faster than even I thought.
I frequently order my favourite takeout, start a mediation session, ask Siri to add tasks to my Things to do list, log a glass of water or food in Waterminder and myfitnesspal apps, enter a voice clip in my Day One journal, get the weather from third party apps like Dark Sky, check off habits in Streaks, play Pandora or Tunein radio, and even get the news from Google News, all on my HomePod. None of this was possible when I bought my HomePod less than a year ago.
There’s no other explanation that you and many other critics keep missing all of this other than that you don’t own a HomePod and are speaking from a misinformed standpoint. You have quite a bit of catching up to do.
As for intelligence, Siri passed Alexa months ago.
https://venturebeat.com/2018/07/25/google-assistant-wins-ai-iq-test-siri-beats-alexa-and-cortana/
Keep in mind that Amazon Echo with Alexa has been out for 5 years. HomePod just passed the 1 year mark and Siri Shortcuts has only been out for 6 months.
*I had to update this number because even I wasn’t caught up to the latest numbers. There are now thousands, not hundreds of apps compatible with Siri Shortcuts and by extension HomePod.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/28/siri-new-shortcuts/