I think given the premium pricing strategy, Apple appears to be ceding the fixed smart speaker mass market to Amazon.
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The new Apple HomePod is a lot like its competitors: Amazon Echo and Google Home.
What’s interesting about Apple’s approach here is that the company has positioned HomePod as a music device first and foremost, a big contrast to the approach of Google which touted its Home speaker as a day-to-day assistant for many aspects of your life. With a 4in subwoofer, seven tweeter array and some fancy real-time sound modelling, it certainly has the tools to trounce the Google Home and Amazon Echo family.
As a music player, the HomePod vows to offer more limpid sounds than the competition. Two HomePods may be set up in the same room and they will automatically work together. However, HomePod, which will starts shipping in December, can tell you the weather, read news and sports scores, and perform many other tasks, all beginning with the command, “Hey Siri”.
Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers the opening keynote address the 2017 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) at the San Jose Convention Center on June 5, 2017 in San Jose, California. Making the most of it will require a subscription to Apple’s own music streaming service, which runs $10 to $15 per month and has attracted 27 million subscribers so far.
It’s game-time! Apple just announced its long-awaited take on a smart speaker, completing the smart speaker triumvirate along with Google and Amazon.
HomePod is a wireless speaker for the home that uses spatial awareness to identify its location in a room, and thereby adjusts the audio automatically.
Adding workouts via Apple Watch will be easier, as will the ability to do multiple workouts in a single session.
HomePod is controlled using Siri, the company’s voice-activated personal assistant, which has, according to Apple, been trained to be better at answering questions about music such as “Hey Siri, who’s the drummer in this?”
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook also announced on Monday that content from Amazon Prime Video, long absent from the Apple TV product, would come to Apple devices such as the TV, iPhones and iPad later this year. Linn Huang, a research director at IDC, said he believes one thing Apple could do to entice customers would be to put edge-to-edge glass on the iPad Pro, which would distinguish the more powerful iPad Pro from the original iPad.
As the rumors foretold, it seems that Apple and Amazon have buried the hatchet. According to Apple, HomePod is a great listening experience first and foremost. Apple typically makes major updates to its Mac software every other year.
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The technology giant also announced a new software kit for developers called ARKit, which will enabled app developers to build augmented reality apps on Apple’s platforms more easily.
