
Apple unveils HomePod smart speaker at $349 - chewymouse
https://www.engadget.com/2017/06/05/apple-homepod-smart-speaker/
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pornel
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.

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tcarn
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.

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Nimsical
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)

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

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JBReefer
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.

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muninn_
?? I see a ton of Apple watches. It's like, the only watch that ever looked
appealing.... I agree with your "being the fastest slug..." comment, but I'm
not really sure what is to be expected here? In their market segment they are
by far the top seller. They have a device that does a ton of stuff, looks
nice, and integrates with devices like iPhone. What else are we expecting
here?

What club is Apple TV joining? The successful product club?

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pgm8705
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.

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solidr53
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?

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

Seems like a risky decision.

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indemnity
Do you know how Airplay works?

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adt2bt
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.

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tdb7893
Can you expound on why you think it is a gamechanger?

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adt2bt
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.

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bobsam
Serious question: if better intelligence is what you want, why did you choose
echo over home to begin with?

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adt2bt
I picked up the Echo before the Home was available.

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bobsam
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.

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huxley
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/](https://sixcolors.com/post/2017/06/ears-on-with-the-homepod/)

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

