
Apple’s HomePod: Paying $350 for a speaker that says “no” this much is tough - Osiris
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/02/review-apples-homepod-is-a-fun-apple-music-accessory-and-thats-it/
======
walterbell
Once upon a time, there was something called a "personal computer", which
executed any program chosen by the person who paid for the device.

There is no technical reason why an Apple speaker could not be connected to
Alexa, Google or private/niche speech recognition, when desired by the person
who paid for the speaker.

This is a $350 device which runs only one app. Why?

~~~
askafriend
> This is a $350 device which runs only one app. Why?

Because the consumer doesn't care about the things you care about - they truly
don't care at all. Zero. Nil.

The consumer wants to play music, they want it to sound good, they want zero
setup or calibration involved, they want good software integration with the
ecosystem they're already familiar with and they want the device to look good
alongside their home decor. Oh and they want reliable, no-lag, multi-room
audio so that their setup can expand throughout their home.

Now go in the market and tell me which device accomplishes these things. The
answer is very very very few. There's Sonos, and really that's about it. There
are a bunch of major drawbacks with Sonos: the Sonos app is complete garbage,
there's calibration required, it doesn't sound as good, it doesn't look as
good and the software integration with any ecosystem let alone Apple's is
subpar.

With HomePod, those in the Apple ecosystem finally have a _best-in-class_
sounding speaker which is deeply integrated into the software they already
know and use throughout their life (Mac, iPad, iPhone, Watch, etc), looks
beautiful, is small, and just works with no setup (AirPlay, Real time whole
room calibration). To achieve that in one elegant package is no small feat.

The reason many people are getting mad is because it's not a device that's
_for them_ \- which is completely OK. This is a product that is targeted at
Apple's consumer base which if you're counting is at nearly a billion users or
more. They do not need to appeal to those with an Android phone or those who
use Spotify to sell this thing at scale and be successful by any reasonable
metric. They simply don't have to, and people can get angry about it all they
want.

~~~
jacksmith21006
Could not disagree more. We use our Google homes all the time for a variety of
things beyond music. One of my favorite is controlling the TV with YouTube TV.

~~~
askafriend
Anecdotally, almost everyone I know that got an Alexa has resorted to only
using it for weather and settings timers.

At first they tried all the cool tricks like asking it trivia questions and
cool integrations - but gradually they stopped using those as the novelty wore
off. The other big use-case is home automation like turning off lights with
voice, but I see this far less since it's expensive to outfit homes with these
kinds of IOT devices.

I personally think voice will continue to mature, but we're just not there yet
where it's something that's critical. We'll get there, but that's just not
reality today for most people which is why I reject the notion that any
company is "late" to the game. When we do get there though, I think there's
room in the market at all price points, which is the beauty of cheap
microphones. Amazon might even decide to give away cheap Alexa devices (they
already practically are with FireStick, etc).

Of course take my comment with a grain of salt. We still don't have reliable
publicly reported metrics in this space.

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jaysonelliot
The HomePod is a redux of the Apple HiFi from 2006–2007.

It's a high-quality, high-priced speaker meant for the Apple music ecosystem.
The first time they tried this, the Apple HiFi got great reviews for its sound
quality, but failed in the marketplace.

The question is whether the HomePod will meet the same fate. It's got more
functionality than the HiFi, but even less utility outside of the Apple walled
garden. What's worse, they've got a fundamental mismatch between consumer
perception (people think it's an Alexa / Google Home competitor) and what
seems to be Apple's intent (it's an audiophile device for streaming music).

If they pivot quickly and release a small, competitively priced version that
can compete directly with Amazon and Google, it could survive. But as it
stands, it's a niche product for a small market that looks likely to meet the
same fate as the HiFi.

~~~
jacksmith21006
Problem is the sound quality is getting mixed reviews and the assistant gets
poor.

[https://finance.yahoo.com/news/head-head-apple-homepod-
reall...](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/head-head-apple-homepod-really-sound-
best-160346138.html) A home sound test of the Apple HomePod - Yahoo Finance

[http://www.techradar.com/news/google-home-max-tops-apple-
hom...](http://www.techradar.com/news/google-home-max-tops-apple-homepod-for-
audio-says-consumer-reports) Google Home Max tops Apple HomePod for audio,
says Consumer Reports

~~~
askafriend
Consumer Reports is an awful publication. Their methodologies are often very
flawed and very opaque. I also would not trust Yahoo finance for audio
reviews.

As an example of CR's egregiously bad testing, they run battery tests by
cranking brightness up to 100% on various devices. However if you have half a
brain, you'll realize that display technology matters and is different across
phones. At the very least, you want to set the different phones to a certain
level of "nits" which is a measure of brightness rather than an arbitrary
"100%" which can mean wildly different things. It actively penalizes phones
with better display technology just because their displays can output brighter
light.

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godzillabrennus
I share the opinion of many that it's not a worthy contender in the market at
this point. However, Apple released the iPhone without basic functions like
copy and paste but focused hard on a user experience no one else had worked on
to create the most valuable mobile phone product in history.

There is potential here for a high quality speaker like this to mature into a
quality product.

Unfortunately for Apple though I'm not interested in helping fund that market
for them. I will keep my Amazon Echo's in the home until I feel compelled to
switch because they have leapfrogged the competition.

~~~
bcaulfield
I got an Amazon Echo as a present a couple months ago. I haven't even bothered
to unbox it. What can it really do, besides order stuff from Amazon for me?
Play Amazon music? Not a subscriber. Turn off my lights? Nice party trick, but
I live in a small apartment, not much use there. Look stuff up on Wikipedia?

~~~
JimmyAustin
I use my dot almost exclusively for music. Hook it up to a nice stereo system
and it turns a dumb stereo system into a Spotify device that i can control
with my voice or from my phone.

~~~
urda
Same. I just have a nice little bluetooth speaker paired to it that I can move
around my space whenever I like.

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jacksmith21006
Also did not fair well in a blind test up against the Google Home Max and
Sonos based on sound quality.

[https://finance.yahoo.com/news/head-head-apple-homepod-
reall...](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/head-head-apple-homepod-really-sound-
best-160346138.html) A home sound test of the Apple HomePod - Yahoo Finance

Also saw consumer report was meh on the Homepod. The hope was fantastic sound
but not a great assistant. Does not appear they nailed either.

[https://9to5mac.com/2018/02/12/google-home-max-sonos-one-
hom...](https://9to5mac.com/2018/02/12/google-home-max-sonos-one-homepod-
test/) Consumer Reports: HomePod audio quality 'very good' but Google ...

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rocky1138
Is there any reason for these "intelligent" speakers to exist except novelty?

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wand3r
HomePod should have been an integrated AppleTV/Speaker/Siri. That would have
made people actually buy it

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fermienrico
I don't understand music quality arguments with these small systems -
Sonos/Homepod/etc.

Get proper speakers - 8.5" drivers ($600) and a decent amplifier (Yamaha
$250). This stereo will out compete any of these intelligent speakers.

Whats missing (except Alexa) is an auxiliary audio out that can be hooked up
to existing system like the one I mentioned above. Google Home doesn't have it
but it works with Chromcast add on. I personally use apple TV as my Airplay
hub. So, about all that's missing is a microphone.

I simply do not understand - perhaps I am a minority - the argument and
discussion around sound quality. There is no replacement in my opinion to a
standard large diameter floor standing speaker. If I want to listen to music,
I don't want any compromise - I want to be able to play it on my main stereo.
Some people just don't care and they'll put music on their phone or some
random bluetooth doodad. Why?

~~~
falcolas
So, a $850 system will outperform a $350 system in terms of sound? I can't say
I'm surprised.

If you need a $850 setup to get what you consider to be "good sound", you're
not the audience for these kinds of speakers.

And yes, this is from someone who also has a Yamaha receiver and good
speakers.

~~~
fusiongyro
Who's spending $350 on an Apple speaker and has no other Apple products? How
would you even get set up with Apple Music without at least an iPhone or an
iPad, both of which get you into the territory of traditional entertainment
center expenditures?

~~~
photojosh
Errr, I already had the other Apple product(s), as do millions of people, and
owning those was completely tangential to my "traditional entertainment center
expenditure"?

~~~
fusiongyro
So, you're the target market, and that market is "people who care about music
enough to spend $350 on an Apple product to play it, but not enough to spend
$850 on decent speakers, but still insist it's important enough that they want
to spend more than $100 for the Amazon product that does the same thing only
with the rest of the non-music features."

Sounds like a genre-defining winner to me.

~~~
falcolas
A fairly good sounding room-based speaker with voice controls that fits nicely
into your existing ecosystem. Honestly, I wish my Yamaha could do that.

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reaperducer
>Paying $350 for a speaker that says “no” this much is tough

A year ago, people were paying $350 for speakers that don't say anything —
they just play music. Hooked up to a stereo with WIRES! Some people still do.

Funny how technology makes us feel entitled.

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perseusprime11
Interoperability is dead!

