“When Apple launched its HomePod smart speaker earlier this year, many critics claimed that its high price tag of $349 would prevent it from gaining ground against Amazon’s Echo and Alphabet’s Google Home devices, which cost as little as $50,” Leo Sun writes for The Motely Fool.
“Despite those headwinds, a recent report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners indicates that Apple has established a foothold in the U.S. smart speaker market, nabbing a 6% share,” Sun writes. “Apple remains an underdog, but its tiny share generates higher revenue per device than Amazon’s and Google’s devices.”
Sun writes, “The HomePod won’t move the needle for Apple anytime soon, but it’s one way for the tech titan to maintain a presence in the smart home market.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Due to its delayed late start this year, Apple’s HomePod is a story for Christmas 2018 and beyond.
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. — MacDailyNews, April 13, 2018
SEE ALSO:
Metro UK reviews Apple’s HomePod: Get the credit card out and buy two – August 6, 2018
How to group HomePod and Sonos speakers for multi-speaker surround sound – July 27, 2018
Yes, two Apple HomePods really are better than one – July 19, 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
I really, really wish pundits would stop putting the HomePod in the same market as Echo and Google Home. They should be looking at what market share the HomePod has compared to devices focussed on music quality. They simply aren’t – and aren’t trying to be – home assistants.
Well you should be glad that the consumer gadget press puts Apple against what is supposed to be inferior competition. Apple claims to be better in every way, so it should be plainly obvious that Apple’s expensive product should be worth the price. Did you not get the fanboy blogging tips memo?
If Apple isn’t trying to be a voice assistant, then they shouldn’t advertise Siri as a Homepod feature.
Frankly, I don’t think Apple should advertise the Homepod as a superior audio solution, because it isn’t. It doesn’t fill large rooms with great sound, it’s worthless for home cinema, and it isn’t compatible with most high definition audio/video sources. It’s just a physical interface for Apple Music subscribers. Apple should be giving them away for free with every prepaid music rental contract.
If Comcast instead of Apple had released a Homepod with identical capabilities and tied it to a Comcast Music service with identical features as Apple Music, the Apple fan clubs would be howling about how terrible it is. They would all be issuing all kinds of guidance on how to CUT THE CORD!
But it’s Apple, so being tied into subscriptions is okay with the hardcore fanboys.
It’s one new Apple product I am completely ambivalent or apathetic about as I have other technology that perfectly or better suits my purpose for music outside, in my studio (with pro monitors and sub-woofer) and elsewhere in the house.
$600 for speakers… No, unless the HomePod because its own app platform and can do more than an equally expensive iPhone, then no, I won’t be getting one. Besides that, headphones sound so much better, and allow for much more privacy.
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Bought a pair; sound fantastic in my study.
Premium product, as usual.
I love my paired HomePods. The sound is fantastic and Siri works great for me. I recently bought a third for our 2nd home. Will likely soon but another. I just saw Costco had them for $299.
If Costco is closing out old stock for Apple, it shows either version 2.0 is coming or Apple must be getting desperate to catch up to the huge lead that Amazon and Google have.
I would just like these snooping speakers to go away like most tech fads do.
V2.0 ain’t coming anytime soon.
It takes Cue 4 years to make any meaningful software or hardware upgrade. Besides, basketball season is just around the corner. You’ll have to wait at least another year for anything new from Apple on the audio/video front.
Besides, Ive is furiously trying to find a way to take away more features and make the damn thing as thin as a sliver of polished aloooominyum.
Perhaps Ive is tinkering now with a revival of the Quad ESL-57. To quote Quad founder Peter Walker, “We think our loudspeaker is very poor, but we think that the others are even poorer!” That’s basically what Apple does now – pretend the competition offers poorer quality. The problem with brand fanboy thinking is that they believe Apple’s one-size-fits-all product must somehow be superior. They willfully ignore the fact that dozens of other companies have nice full product lines from cheap trash though the stratosphere on quality and price. Many start well above Apple by any objective measurement. So why stick with slow boring Apple? The only staying power Apple can claim is that they aren’t tracking the user (but of course we know this is a lie because Apple Music is constantly trying to match you to a listener profile). And like every corporation, it’s only a matter of time before someone decides to monetize the data that unsuspecting users will freely give. Apple has spent the last 5 years copying product features from Google and Amazon, you can bet that ads and user info tracking will be the next Homepod/Apple Music feature.
Achieving Homepod’s 6% market share during approx. 6 months of non-holiday sales at the rate of approx. 1%/mo of a product many deride as too costly is astonishing.
I am sure that petty, vindictive, Islamo-fascist Turkish Pres. Recep Erdoğan wishes ill will on this Apple product too.
What I really – really – want is an Apple Cinema Display.
Well, two actually.
Apple never gives us what we really want. Upgradeable Mac Pro and new LARGE monitors at the top of the ludicrously tardy list.