Apple’s Stumbling HomePod Isn’t the Hot Seller It Wanted

[ItsMitch]

Source: Bloomberg TicToc (Link is in the Tweet) 

Apple may of had a great year for phones, Home pods however is a different story. It failed to beat Google's Home and it got crushed by Amazon's Echo

Quote

 

When Apple Inc.’s HomePod smart speaker went on sale in January, it entered a market pioneered and dominated by Amazon’s Echo lineup of Alexa-powered devices. Apple has been touting the HomePod’s superior sound quality but so far hasn’t enticed many consumers to part with $349.

 

By late March, Apple had lowered sales forecasts and cut some orders with Inventec Corp., one of the manufacturers that builds the HomePod for Apple, according to a person familiar with the matter.

 

At first, it looked like the HomePod might be a hit. Pre-orders were strong, and in the last week of January the device grabbed about a third of the U.S. smart speaker market in unit sales, according to data provided to Bloomberg by Slice Intelligence. But by the time HomePods arrived in stores, sales were tanking, says Slice principal analyst Ken Cassar. “Even when people had the ability to hear these things,” he says, “it still didn’t give Apple another spike.”

 

 

Bloomberg also released a chart showing how dominant Amazon really is in the Smart Speaker market during the first 2 months of sales.

 

 

Consumers also complained over the lack of pairing the HomePods but Apple has said the feature will be coming out at a later date.

Quote

When the HomePod finally shipped, consumers found they couldn’t pair two speakers and create stereo sound or play music in multiple rooms. Apple has said these functions will be available this year, and the latest iPhone software update in beta with app developers suggests they are in advanced testing. Some HomePod buyers also complained that the device leaves marks on wood, a situation Apple is now working to rectify with a new material, according to people familiar with the work

 

[Sauron]

Jeez, I wonder why an expensive, furniture scorching speaker with half the functionality competitors offer isn't doing so well.

[IgorM]

6 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Jeez, I wonder why an expensive, furniture scorching speaker with half the functionality competitors offer isn't doing so well.

That sums it up really well

[AlTech]

Just now, IgorM said:

That sums it up really well

The problem is that if Apple try to fix the price it still will be too high to compete properly with Amazon and Google.

[Guest]

Wasn't that story already on a WAN show?

[dizmo]

I'm legit shocked that Amazon Echo is that high. I figured Google would have had the market share.

[IgorM]

2 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

The problem is that if Apple try to fix the price it still will be too high to compete properly with Amazon and Google.

Despite of being superior in sound quality, advertising it as a speaker with voice assistance makes it comparable with an echo dot

[ARikozuM]

$349... Yet Amazon had the Echo devices on a 20% discount for the last month or more. 

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I'm legit shocked that Amazon Echo is that high. I figured Google would have had the market share.

Maybe it is only US smartspeaker sales, because correct me if im wrong, but you cant properly use the ALexa outside America(US and canada) so the Google has much higher market share in Europe.

[Sauron]

6 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I'm legit shocked that Amazon Echo is that high. I figured Google would have had the market share.

It's probably because amazon has a wider brand reach, if only because when you open amazon.com you get an ad for their stuff.

[Cheezdoodlez]

6 minutes ago, Some Random Member said:

Maybe it is only US smartspeaker sales, because correct me if im wrong, but you cant properly use the ALexa outside America(US and canada) so the Google has much higher market share in Europe.

You are correct. Alexa is not working that well here in Europe. Atleast not in Sweden. 

[DrMacintosh]

I think the thing people miss is that HomePod was designed to be a speaker first and a smart assistant later. Apple even went out of there way at the announcement to say that Siri on HomePod was not the same Siri that is in something like and iPhone. 

 

Still, 10% of the market with that price tag is not bad. 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Who would have thought that if you get to market a year after everyone else and people have already bought a similar product that works you won't sell a whole lot of them. Especially when they're 4x the price of their competitors.

[Sauron]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I think the thing people miss is that HomePod was designed to be a speaker first and a smart assistant later. Apple even went out of there way at the announcement to say that Siri on HomePod was not the same Siri that is in something like and iPhone. 

 

Still, 10% of the market with that price tag is not bad. 

The problem is that, as a speaker, it still lacks plenty of functionality - aside from the fact it ruins your wooden furniture, but that's not a problem for everyone.

 

And given the price, WHY is it not also a good smart assistant...? I don't care about "assistant" functionality, but if they're going to put it in (and price it accordingly) why half-ass it?

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, Sauron said:

And given the price, WHY is it not also a good smart assistant...? I don't care about "assistant" functionality, but if they're going to put it in (and price it accordingly) why half-ass it?

Because it's a speaker first. And lets not kid ourselves, "smart speakers" are gimmicks. All you really need are what Apple has put into HomePod. Music controls, basic commands, Phone commands and HomeKit integration. 

[AresKrieger]

5 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

And lets not kid ourselves, "smart speakers" are gimmicks. All you really need are what Apple has put into HomePod. Music controls, basic commands, Phone commands and HomeKit integration. 

Ok then make it cheaper, it honestly can't compete with lesser functionality and at a higher price the only reason apple can get away with that on say a laptop would be due to the OS being the desirable aspect for their customers, this might as well not exist.

[ARikozuM]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Because it's a speaker first. And lets not kid ourselves, "smart speakers" are gimmicks. 

In the kitchen and a terrible song comes on? "Siri/Alexa, skip song". I wouldn't want to wash my hands or stop what I'm doing when cooking, it's just inconvenient for certain rooms.

 

It even fails as a better speaker if you're switching between apps. 

Quote

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16976906/apple-homepod-review-smart-speaker

 

You can’t ask Siri to play something on an Apple TV, as both Google and Amazon’s assistants can do with their respective TV devices. It’s also very inconvenient to use the HomePod as a TV speaker: you can set an Apple TV to AirPlay to it, but it drops that connection when you play music again, and you have go back into the Apple TV’s settings to select the HomePod again every time. There’s no way to get other TV sources like a PlayStation or your cable box to play out of the HomePod at all.

 

[D13H4RD]

7 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Because it's a speaker first. And lets not kid ourselves, "smart speakers" are gimmicks. All you really need are what Apple has put into HomePod. Music controls, basic commands, Phone commands and HomeKit integration. 

Well, to bluntly quote Quinn Nelson

 

Even though Apple claims it's a speaker first and a smart assistant second, people are still going to compare this to an Echo or GHome. It doesn't really matter if it sounds great for its size because the target market wants to see how the "smart" portion of smart speakers work.

 

As a speaker, it's good. Perhaps limited in terms of what it plays nice with (actually, VERY limited) but it does sound good for its size. But as a SMART speaker, it's just not up to snuff.

[kuddlesworth9419]

Have I been living under a rock what is all this home voice thing?

[Teddy07]

I don't get anyways why people buy them. 

[Sauron]

32 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Because it's a speaker first. And lets not kid ourselves, "smart speakers" are gimmicks. All you really need are what Apple has put into HomePod. Music controls, basic commands, Phone commands and HomeKit integration. 

I agre that smart speakers are gimmicks, but if they're going for a minimal product why does it cost so much? It's not about the bare minimum that you need to listen to music, it's about what you're paying for vs what you're getting.

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, Sauron said:

but if they're going for a minimal product why does it cost so much?

Like I said, its a better speaker than any of the ones on the market, and its Apple. 

 

Apple is not really in the game of going with cheap pricing models. 

[potoooooooo]

They are meant to compete with sonos, not with Google Home and Amazon Alexa. Only the Google Home Max could really be considered a homepod competitor.

[Guest]

Was going to get one because of HomeKit but can't seem to find them anywhere (Apart from the Apple website). Maybe when I go to Australia they will have them there. 

[Starelementpoke]

Superior sound quality coming from the company that owns Beats made me laugh.