“A fresh report from Ming-Chi Kuo gives KGI’s take on the recent stories of poor market reception for HomePod,” Benjamin Mayo reports for 9to5Mac. “The report suggests that Apple could sell 2-2.5 million HomePods across all of 2018, with a million of those from first month pent-up demand.”
“He says the high price has cut off a lot of the potential market (in the face of tough, cheaper, competition) and that Apple is ‘mulling’ a lower-cost model,” Mayo reports. “Earlier this week, Bloomberg claimed that some Apple Stores were selling only ten HomePods a day.”
“A 2.5 million estimate for HomePod yearly sales from KGI works out to about 6,800 units per day, obviously split between retail and online sales,” Mayo reports. “KGI is non-committal about the lower-cost HomePod idea. This suggests that the analyst has seen evidence of lower-cost prototypes but not enough to indicate that Apple has signed off production on a cheaper model.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, you simply cannot miss the Christmas shopping season and not pay a steep price. For Apple, the price is a lost year and millions of potential customers lost to other ecosystems – perhaps temporarily, perhaps permanently; regardless they will be much harder to land had Apple had product on the shelves for Christmas.
A finally finished HomePod (with flawless multi-room audio and stereo pairing out of the box) and, potentially others in the HomePod family, are products for Christmas 2018 and beyond.
SEE ALSO:
China Times echoes poor HomePod sales, says Apple has reduced orders to 200,000 per month – April 12, 2018
Apple HomePod disappoints with weak sales after tardy debut that missed Christmas shopping season – April 12, 2018
Apple tumbles 24 spots – from 5th to 29th – in Harris Reputation Poll – March 13, 2018
Apple shakes up software development strategy to focus on quality – February 12, 2018
Apple on Mac flaw: ‘We apologize to all Mac users. Our customers deserve better. We are auditing our development processes.’ – November 29, 2017
Tim Cook’s sloppy, unfocused Apple rushes to fix a major Mac security bug – November 29, 2017
What to do about Apple’s shameful Mac security flaw in macOS High Sierra – November 29, 2017
Under ‘operations genius’ Tim Cook, product delays and other problems are no longer unusual for Apple – November 20, 2017
Apple’s desperate Mac Pro damage control message hints at a confused, divided company – April 6, 2017
On the future of Apple’s Macintosh – February 6, 2017
Apple is misplaying the hand Steve Jobs left them – November 30, 2016
Open letter to Tim Cook: Apple needs to do better – January 5, 2015
I’ll take a cordless, portable Homepod for $199.
Perhaps you mean that you want an iPhone 🤔
No, a smart speaker that isn’t chained to a wall.
It’s not JUST its price. It’s that it can’t be used as a BT speaker, can’t do Spotify, and in general is a DUMB speaker. You can’t even connect it to your TV, for goodness sakes.
For that price, you’d expect some flexibility.
Right on …
Not sure of the intended market. We already have great speakers in every room, connected for years to Airport Express units. Now also connecting them to BT dongles for streaming from our Echo Dots.
There are many things Apple has done or not done, since Cook became CEO, that has to me seemed both lazy and greedy. The current iteration of Home Pod surely confirms my suspicions and that is a shame. The public will not tolerate either laziness or greediness and abhores both of these things in any company; especially one that purports to sell products that are worth what they cost. That was clearly the case as Apple’s fortunes multiplied even during the worst recession since the Great Depression. People are willing to pay for quality products like Apple used to make. The converse is also true and will assure Apple’s demise if they do not change their ways which must begin with the one thing that changed – Cook! I don’t know who can possibly replace Steve, but I am certain Cook can not and surely many others could do much better.
GREED, indeed!
Too many of Apple’s recent products are not realized to their full potential as Apple could make them.
I remember Phil Schiller or eddy Cue officially recommending Sonos as the speaker supplier of choice for apple customers two years ago. That’s when I went all in on Sonos in my home — sorry Apple my money is already spent…
It has absolutely nothing to do with amissed holiday season bottom line is the price it’s too expensive HomePod maybe $279.00 it’s way too overpriced.
It’s a decent product and I have one but the sound is not spectacular it’s overrated
Does anyone know if HomePod will work using the iPhone hotspot (quasi WiFi?)? I only have cellular at my cabin in the woods but the hotspot allows me to watch Netflix, etc on my iPad. I’d really like to have a nice speaker and I’d actually buck-up for HomePod if it’d work.
He’s an idiot. Only 2 million units? Well that translates to $698 million in sales. Name me any person or company that wouldn’t kill for $698 million in sales for a single product.
Boeing.
Boeing is ready to kill for that??
If Boeng only made one billion in sales from an aircraft series they would be under.
They wouldn’t kill for that. It would be a disaster.
And the they do not even sell the HomePod here were I live. HomePod exists only in the USA, UK and Ausralia? So no news here. Next Xmas Apple will sell tons of these.
Want an Apple Watch, you need an iPhone.
Want an Apple Homepod, you need an iPhone.
Want an Apple tootbrush, you will need an iPhone.
What’s the common thread?
Good as it might be, it’s a lock in tool, to single vendor at that.
Ahh yes the Apple Homeplod. What a fail.