“A new analytical report published today provides results from its research on smart speakers, including Echo, Google Home and HomePod as of December 31, 2018,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple.
“CIRP (Consumer Intelligence Research Partners) analysis indicates that the US installed base of smart speaker devices is 66 million units, up from 53 million units in the September 2018 quarter and up 36 million units in the December 2017 quarter,” Purcher reports. “Amazon Echo hold[s] 70% market share followed by Google Home at 24% and Apple’s HomePod at 6%.”
“Josh Lowitz, Partner and Co-Founder of CIRP: ‘Holiday shoppers helped the smart speaker market take off again,'” Purcher reports. “Relative market shares have remained fairly stable, with Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple HomePod accounting for consistent shares over the past few quarters.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Of course, Apple is not trying to lead the market (unit) share race. Apple is trying, likely sucessfully, to take the premium segment of the smart speaker market with HomePod.
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s HomePod launches in China and Hong Kong on Friday, January 18th – January 13, 2019
Apple HomePod vs. Sonos One – December 5, 2018
Just 2% of Apple customers have a HomePod – September 18, 2018
iMore reviews Apple’s HomePod: Retina for your ears – June 18, 2018
Can a pair of Apple’s HomePods take on a surround sound theater system? – June 18, 2018
David Pogue reviews Apple HomePod with stereo and multi-room capabilities: ‘Ooh, man’ – June 13, 2018
HomePod stereo pairing took a frustratingly long time to arrive, but it was worth the wait – May 30, 2018
Strategy Analytics: Apple shipped 600,000 HomePods in Q1 for 6% share of smart speaker market – May 17, 2018
The Inquirer reviews Apple’s HomePod: ‘Looks great, sounds fantastic; Siri needs work’ – April 6, 2018
I want another Apple HomePod for sure, maybe two more – March 20, 2018
Sound quality shootout: Apple HomePod vs. two Sonos Ones – March 16, 2018
Apple HomePod: The audiophile perspective plus 8 1/2 hours of measurements; HomePod is 100% an audiophile-grade speaker – February 12, 2018
Apple’s HomePod is actually a steal at $349 – January 26, 2018
Digital Trends previews Apple’s HomePod: Impressive sound coupled with strong privacy – January 26, 2018
Hands on with Apple’s HomePod: Attractive, ultra-high-quality speaker, an excellent Siri ambassador – January 26, 2018
Apple’s HomePod, the iPod for your home – January 25, 2018
One hour with Apple’s new HomePod smart speaker – January 25, 2018
Flop.
Apple should have offered a Dot type device at launch instead of the overpriced, unrepairable and horrible sounding speaker. Why would I want that thing when I have better already?
With a Dot you can add Alexa to an existing system. If a have a high end system in my Living Room and another in my Bedroom, why would I want to buy that cheap looking and sounding HomePod? Sounds like a cheap Boom Box at the Apple Store.
You kidding? Right?
If not, have you ever repaired a speaker once defect? If you did, you are a tech geek. Not a market Apple has in mind for the HP.
Horrible sounding? I am an audio geek, hifi sound lover and what Apple has come out with is astonishing for the quality. The smart side of it is a bonus.
If you want to give up your privacy with Alexa, do so. I don’t.
6% means it’s a HomeDud.
yeah, because billions of kids who should have the homepod in front of the, learning the brand, and realizing quality while bagging their parents to buy things from the app store, aren’t desirable and neither is anyone else if they are not part of this supposed “premium” segment,,, Can someone tell me at what “income” does premium turn into unwashed masses? I truly hope that is not what Apple is doing. I get margins, but alienating 90% of the market with attitude reeks and obviously investors aren’t buying it. Really really silly. Let’s face it, they are late to the party with a sub par product where people are struggling to find value let alone even aware of the HomePod. What’s it’s breakthrough feature?
I do not concur with your entire post, but I support your pushback against Apple elitism. Jobs never intended for Apple products to be priced for the top 20%. Neither was he willing to strip down and cheapen products to target a price-point. Jobs believed that if you built useful, user-friendly, high quality products at a reasonable price, then people would buy them. That led to somewhat higher than average prices for most Apple products. But the fact that they were well-engineered, built to last, and backed by excellent customer support generally led to a lower total cost of ownership. I have always felt that buying a good quality product was a wise move, both financially and because of the satisfaction derived from using a great product.
Apple has often unfairly been accused of having crazy high prices. In most cases, a comparison of similarly specced products showed that the Apple products were priced competitively. I have to admit, though, that Apple has generally charged a stiff premium for additional memory and storage.
Back to the point – once again, I admonish MDN about promoting an elitist mentality among Mac users that leads others to think of us as snobbish. That approach is self-defeating, because it leads people to dislike Apple products because of Apple users. As a result, they may not keep an open mind and try an Apple product and become an Apple fan. Don’t alienate people just because they are not on your team.
Totally agree about MDN’s snobbish elitist attitude that Apple products are only for premium people who spend premium money on services on top of the overpriced products.
iPad is a great example of what you speak of. Fantastic product for $329 ! Recall how everyone was blown away at the $499 launch price in 2010.
iPad “pro” is unfortunately the complete opposite. Priced for those premium people MDN seems to love so much. I don’t think its unfair to criticize the crazy high prices of iPad pros. They are just iPads with a few more bells and whistles and CPU cores..
You need to be a 1%-er to buy Apple products.
so according to MDN, Apple isn’t trying to win market share, they just want to make really expensive, overhyped things, that may or may not work, for a consumer that may or may not want them. Great strategy!
I’ve got ten of them in five stereo pairs; in the kitchen, iving room, bedroom, bathroom and in my office at work. I mostly stream from an iMac or iOS device. So far, so good! I’m sure a lower priced version is coming up next, although I’d be interested in a HomePod Pro or HomePod II.
Ouch on the wallet. Two in the bathroom… a little overkill no ?
One on the countertop and the second unseen (but heard) under the counter. In a stereo pair. Music bleeds out into a hallway connecting my bedroom and living room. Overkill? Probably. I admit it. But, I’m pleased with the sound.
Apple doesn’t make a SMART speaker.
Apple has dumb speakers talking crap at their keynotes.
Love my HomePods. The sound, to my ears, is incredible, and Siri works great for me. I have two homes and HomePods are the default music system in both.
Another rich one percenter who can afford a homedud in both homes. Bernie O’casio cortez will have a field day with rich people like you. The problem is Apple is led leftist socialist lovers so we have a hypocrisy problem. No cheap iPhones for the plebs, only for the leftist ELITE for whom $3000 is the same as $3
Ha, 6% is far better than I expected. I thought 1%. I have two HomePods in my living room. And, I have a 7.2 Atmos system there as well. While the atmos system sounds very good, it is/was a total pain to setup compared to my 2 HomePods, which sound amazingly good.
So, how many sold “units” are paired with others compared to other vendors ? Seems to me HomePods are more likely to be paired than other brands just based on the nature of the product design and the Apple users who demand premium sound. A HomePod owner may be more likely to have 2 or more HomePods compared to Amazon or Google owners. If so 6% of unit sales could equate to 3%-4% of “homes” that have HomePods…
Not much in terms of market share percentage, so it’s business as usual for an Apple product. I don’t know what to say about that. These market share comparisons always leave Apple looking stupid. If that’s what Apple wants, then they’re getting it.
I just happen to think if Apple wants to push Services, then they need to slightly lower the price of hardware to get more consumers on board to use those Services. That strategy seems to be working well for Amazon.
I don’t claim to understand sales strategy better than Apple. This is just how I see it from my narrow view which may be quite wrong. Apple didn’t get where it is with my help, so they must know something. Of course, times change and Apple may need to adjust to those changes.
Why sell cheap products as it is clearly well established from the smartphone market that those people that are only prepared to buy budget products don’t buy services.
Actually, 3.6 million HomePods sold in the USA alone at 349 dollars each generated almost 1.4 Billion dollars revenue for Apple (not including ongoing Apple Music subscriptions etc). Very impressive indeed.
Then there are the 1.4 billion Apple devices that put Siri on the wrists, pockets, laps and desks of the most lucrative demographic in the world.
As a result, Siri dominates the Voice Assistant market in terms of actual usage to the tune of 45.6% marketshare compared to Google Assistant on 28.7%, Alexa on 13.2%, Samsung’s Bixby on 6.2% and Microsoft’s Cortana on 4.9%.
It is apparent that it is Amazon’s 46m Alexa-powered Echo devices and Google Assistant that are the ones falling short where it matters.