Apple recently announced that it is rolling out its HomePod minis globally in new countries. It will start selling Apple HomePod mini in countries like Finland, Norway and Sweden from December 13th. The company will sell its HomePod mini in South Africa from Dec 19 and other countries will follow in fiscal 2023.
Although Apple HomePod mini is priced higher than its peers, it is expected to attract new users as it will provide services such as Apple Music, podcasts, radio stations from iHeartRadio, radio.com and TuneIn.
Also, the increasing number of smart homes is driving demand for smart speakers, which bodes well for the iPhone-maker’s Homepod mini. Per MarketAndMarkets data, the global smart speaker market is expected to hit $7.1 billion by 2025.
With the launch of HomePods globally, Apple is banking on its strong Wearables, Home and Accessories sales growth in the coming quarters. In the fourth quarter of 2022, its Wearables, Home and Accessories sales increased 9.8% year over year to $9.65 billion and accounted for 10.7% of total sales. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.46% and our estimate of $7.96 billion.
Apple also nearly doubled the number of service centers worldwide. Globally, there are more than 5,000 Apple-authorized service providers with above 100,000 active technicians. This is expected to attract more customers to its products like HomePod mini.
Although Apple’s business primarily runs around its flagship iPhone, the Services portfolio has emerged as the company’s new cash cow. It currently has more than 900 million paid subscribers across its Services portfolio. The plethora of Apple Services available across its smart speaker for homes is expected to attract new customers for its products and drive its market share amid stiff competition.
MacDailyNews Note: In August, Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman reported that Apple is prepping a new high-end HomePod, an updated HomePod mini, and two other smart home devices, the latter two of which he thinks will launch at the end of 2023 or early 2024.
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How long will take Apple to introduce a real speaker? Seemingly, as long as Apple Car. Of course Apple had a good speaker, the HomePod. Then it cancelled it for no good reason. Apple also had a very good Wireless Router – the AirPort Extreme – and very nice wireless extenders which supported wireless music and printing, the AirPort Express. They were great, like the HomePod. Why does Apple ditch vital products while wasting tons of time on stupid ones, like the Apple Car, with no steering wheel or gas pedal?
Airport was rubbish. Short range, and the more extenders that were added the slower it got. Mesh systems are FAR superior.
These products were great for people who want a single vendor integrated solution that works better for that fact.
I haven’t bought the previous version of apple yet. It’s ready for a new one.
Is Apple also having production issues on accessories (not just iPhones) or is Costco just blowing the doors off selling Apple gear? In my local store, HomePod mini was sold out of every color but yellow and gray. AirPods 3, AirPods Pro 2 – sold out.
Online, it’s not much better. Here is what is sold out at Costco:
– AirPods 3: Sold Out
– HomePod: Blue, Orange Sold Out
– Apple Watch 7 GPS, 41mm white: Sold Out
– Apple Watch 7 GPS w/Cellular, 41mm: Sold Out
Again, the local store was even worse, as were surrounding stores with lack of Apple accessory products…
NOTE: Costco sells the HomePod mini for $94.99, but has a $15 instant rebate (discount) so $79.99. Only deal out there I could find at the moment.
Perhaps Apple was caught flat-footed, as tens of millions could not get iPhone Pro’s, they turned to accessorizing the family with a few goodies around their current iPhones instead, and the result as been Apple completely running out of gear to handle the demand?… If so, a complete double-whammy mess. Thank you CCP!