Apple Homepod not living up to Apple's Expectation? New smaller one to possible come...

[WMGroomAK]

It would appear that Apple's Homepod may not be living up to the sale numbers that Apple is hoping for as they are slashing orders of monthly devices by 60% from 500k units to 200k.  At the same time, they are also looking into making a second, smaller, cheaper smart speaker...  

 

https://gizmodo.com/looks-like-nobody-wants-to-buy-apple-s-homepod-1825207301

Quote

... According to a Bloomberg report, the company has lowered the number of Homepods being manufactured by one of its partners, Inventec Corporation, and is reportedly looking to make a second smart speaker, one a bit less expensive than its current $350 offering.

 

Meanwhile, according to a report from The China Times, Apple is slashing the number of monthly HomePod orders from 500,000 to 200,00 due to some disappointing sales. Apple retail store workers cited in the Bloomberg story claim to be selling “fewer than 10 HomePods a day.” Apple’s no stranger to lackluster sales when it comes to new products, but the HomePod seems to be fighting a war on multiple fronts, and doing poorly in each one. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment on the HomePod situation.

 

t’s not like they’re just collecting dust, though. Loup Ventures co-founder Gene Munster expects Apple will sell around 7 million HomePods this year, and 11 million in 2019. 11 million is a lot, but is pretty small compared to the 39 million Echo devices he expects Amazon to sell in the same timeframe, or the 32 million Google Home devices also expected to end up in homes.

While I have no interest in the Homepod myself as I have no want to go back into Apple's ecosystem in general, it would seem that the biggest limiting factor on the Homepod is more related to limited software features with a high price compared to what others may be looking for in a smart speaker. Should be interesting to see if they do actually produce something like an Apple Homepod Dot or whatever they want to call it (Homedot?), especially if they focus on sound quality...  

[Syntaxvgm]

maybe they can make it a speaker that isn't locked down to apple music and apple device audio. 

Currently, I can get a good speaker that plays whatever I want from a guy on craigslist for 20$ and a pack of smokes. 

 

Add BT/3.5mm jack, then itll be a speaker. 

[DrMacintosh]

I mean its a smart speaker than only works with Apple Music and Airplay audio at this point. 

 

Sales were never going to be great. 

 

If apple opened up the bluetooth protocol for any device to pair and pushed out AirPlay 2 finally then they would have a decent product. 

 

I don't think it needs a 3.5mm jack though. That is just not necessary. 

[Droidbot]

5 minutes ago, Syntaxvgm said:

3.5mm jack

Hahahaha this is an apple product, none of that technology here 

 

HomePod failed because it dominated in the music space, not the smart speaker space. With something like Sonos One, I can play music from Spotify or GPM or YouTube, whereas with a HomePod I'm locked squarely into the Apple Music ecosystem.. unless I want to AirPlay and give up my voice controls. 

 

Siri doesn't do a lot of what people want, and lacks a lot of functionality that has been added to Assistant and Alexa. 

 

Not to mention since Echo and Home devices have a low low price they end up in the homes of more and more users. 

[abazigal]

Couple of points to note: 

 

1) Gurman’s track record with Apple has been quite poor ever since he joined Bloomberg. 

 

2) Slice analytics relies on scanning receipts voluntarily submitted by users who opt into their service. This doesn’t sound very accurate to begin with. 

 

3) Reducing orders from one company could correspond with an increase in orders at another company. Someone who isn’t seeing the full picture might think that Apple is reducing orders, when in reality, they are simply changing suppliers. 

 

In short, I would treat this report with a healthy dose of skepticism. 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

47 minutes ago, WMGroomAK said:

It would appear that Apple's Homepod may not be living up to the sale numbers that Apple is hoping for as they are slashing orders of monthly devices by 60% from 500k units to 200k.  At the same time, they are also looking into making a second, smaller, cheaper smart speaker...  

 

https://gizmodo.com/looks-like-nobody-wants-to-buy-apple-s-homepod-1825207301

While I have no interest in the Homepod myself as I have no want to go back into Apple's ecosystem in general, it would seem that the biggest limiting factor on the Homepod is more related to limited software features with a high price compared to what others may be looking for in a smart speaker. Should be interesting to see if they do actually produce something like an Apple Homepod Dot or whatever they want to call it (Homedot?), especially if they focus on sound quality...  

I'm not surprised... the uses of it are very limited and Siri really needs some work. That being said. I don't expect this product category to ever take off. I would much rather have this technology incorporated in an actual Hi-Fi if you are really after sound quality. 

[DrMacintosh]

35 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

Hahahaha this is an apple product, none of that technology here 

It's not even like it's very good. Google for example has a jack on the HomeMax which is essentially useless because its so crab to use. 

 

Sure that is a product specific thing but it actually makes the experience worse in that case. Not saying that limiting HomePod to AirPlay does not make the experience worse, just that adding a headphone jack does not necessarily make the device better. 

[captain_to_fire]

Until Apple understands how to play nice with other phones, I think the Google Home is better by miles. I mean at this moment Siri is still a dumbass compared to the Google Assistant. 

[Droidbot]

1 minute ago, DrMacintosh said:

It's not even like it's very good. Google for example has a jack on the HomeMax which is essentially useless because its so crab to use. 

 

Sure that is a product specific thing but it actually makes the experience worse in that case. Not saying that limiting HomePod to AirPlay does not make the experience worse, just that adding a headphone jack does not necessarily make the device better. 

Agreed, actually. It's a smart speaker, and the only time I can see the 3.5mm being useful is when you're adding a device - ie BT>3.5mm or Chromecast Audio (of which I have two mounted to Geneva Model S/L around the house, rip 30pin)

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, abazigal said:

Couple of points to note: 

 

1) Gurman’s track record with Apple has been quite poor ever since he joined Bloomberg. 

Really?  He's been largely spot-on in my experience. Some of it is data that's hard to verify or won't pan out for months, but I don't think I've seen him actually whiff it.

[D13H4RD]

I'm not really surprised. 

 

It's just really, REALLY limited in what it can do and what it plays nice with. 

 

Tbh, I probably want an aux input because why not, but regular streaming over BT or local WiFi works too

[ScratchCat]

Given the only comment on the HomePod I have heard said it looked like a fancy fabric lined trash can, I am not surprised.

On 4/13/2018 at 3:53 AM, DrMacintosh said:

It's not even like it's very good. Google for example has a jack on the HomeMax which is essentially useless because its so crab to use. 

 

Sure that is a product specific thing but it actually makes the experience worse in that case. Not saying that limiting HomePod to AirPlay does not make the experience worse, just that adding a headphone jack does not necessarily make the device better. 

This is very true. Not only would you need a very long cable to connect to the device if you were to use headphones, you would also risk jerking the device off a table if you ventured to far away. Those who use external speakers probably already have a Bluetooth compatible docking station and would not need the 3.5mm jack.