Apple unveils HomePod smart speaker at $349

Apple unveils HomePod smart speaker at $349(engadget.com)

39 points by chewymouse 8 years ago | 22 comments

pornel 8 years ago |

I expect Google Assistant and Alexa are technically ahead of Siri, but I will only let Apple to have an always-listening device in my home.

Google seems to be intentionally trying to make users give up on privacy. If I enable any privacy settings in my Google account, it completely disables all features of Pixel Assistant, even the basic voice commands that work offline. Somehow without agreeing to logging of my "web history" I'm not even allowed to set a 5-minute timer with Google Assistant.

tcarn 8 years ago |

Alexa keeps getting smarter and is substantially less at $50 for the dot (frequently on sale for $40).

The dot is also superior because it can work with any bluetooth speaker or AUX speaker. Apple once again is 2 years behind everyone with inferior technology.

Nimsical 8 years ago |

There's no open API for this, right?

And Siri is ~1-2 years behind Echo/Google Home. Only "innovation" is on aesthetic design.

Apple usually comes in when they know they can do something a lot better than the existing competition, but not recently. Not with Apple Watch & HomePod.

It's now about:

1) Apple has massive distribution 2) They can get a non-step-function revenue increment with that massive distribution, launching new products.

Which makes sense why it's music focused (lock-in with Apple Music)

wkearney99 8 years ago | |

Meanwhile there's a much larger and far more diverse distribution market for the Amazon, MS and Google offerings. All of which have a much better track record for creating genuinely open systems. Certainly not open-source level of free, but quite a bit more so than Apple's despicable walled garden approach.

muninn_ 8 years ago | |

But Apple Watch is by far the best selling smart watch... ?

JBReefer 8 years ago | | |

Being the fastest slug doesn't mean you're fast. Smartwatches failed to live up to the hype, sales areicb lower than expected, and you rarely see them on the subway.

Honestly, the aesthetics aren't there and it wasn't Earth shattering as promised. This looks to be the same, and Apple TV joins the club.

pgm8705 8 years ago |

Assuming the audio quality is on par with a Sonos Play:1, An extra $150 is a quite a bit more to pay for Siri integration. Also, will HomePod only work with Apple Music? Another must have that I would need to see before switching from Sonos is the ability to create a stereo pair with 2 speakers.

solidr53 8 years ago | |

Only Apple Music. It can create a stereo pair. It's not going to be anywhere close to Sonos in terms of audio quality. 7 tweeters and one 4-inch sub?

adrianmonk 8 years ago | | |

Apparently they're doing beamforming, which lets them have electronic control of the radiation direction and pattern. So the 7 tweeters makes sense for that.

I'm not sure precisely what they're actually doing, but if they wanted to, they could create a feeling of it being more than just mono by pointing some relatively narrow beams in different directions. For example, if you put it on a table or desk with a reflective wall behind you, they could point two beams backward and basically get something like stereo sound. It probably would not feel precise where you can tell exactly where every instrument is in the stereo image, but it would give the sound a sense of space. If that's what they did, it would be a similar trick to what the old Bose 901 speakers did, but with just one box.

And they can go beyond that with 7 tweeters and DSP trickery.

diskape 8 years ago | | |

Do you have a source on that? They said it's deeply integrated with Apple Music, not that it is exclusive to it.

From what I understand it's going to use Airplay 2 and should be compatible with all Airplay compatible apps once they upgrade to the new technology.

bobsam 8 years ago | | |

So basically a music speaker that doesn't support Spotify?

Seems like a risky decision.

tunesmith 8 years ago | |

Plus Sonos creates its own wifi mesh network if you buy its router. That's better than piggybacking on your existing wifi. I haven't found any indication that HomePod will create its own network.

adt2bt 8 years ago |

It sure looks like a gamechanger to me. I have an Echo at home, and I've gotta say it's a bit limiting to converse with. At $349, though, they're clearly going for a smaller market than Amazon & Google.

tdb7893 8 years ago | |

Can you expound on why you think it is a gamechanger?

adt2bt 8 years ago | | |

Sure. I like my Echo, but it's painfully stupid quite often, and, while the speakers are pretty good, to me, they aren't as good as a high quality wireless speaker. It seems like Apple's build quality + Siri will result in a new best-in-class home speaker.

bobsam 8 years ago |

I find it interesting that even though apple showed us just an empty shell, some journalist told us that this is probably the best sounding speaker out there...

RDF jokes aside, I think this will be released as a pure music player first and get smart assistant functions within a year. I don't think it will get an open API the same way google home has but apple will inatead partner with select companies.

huxley 8 years ago | |

It wasn't an empty shell, journalists got to use and listen to actual Homepods

https://sixcolors.com/post/2017/06/ears-on-with-the-homepod/

afinlayson 8 years ago |

I can't decide if it more looks like Hal or a Nest Protect...