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Apple’s HomePod Isn’t a Hot Seller

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Re: Apple’s HomePod Isn’t a Hot Seller

#11

Post by threeseed »

jrimbault wrote: post #4
threeseed wrote: post #2

Slice is the same company that said the Apple Watch wasn't a hot seller either. So I would be taking this with a grain of salt. The fact is that we just don't know what Apple's internal targets are. Nor do I think lacklustre sales are all that worrisome anyway given that the HomePod quite firmly locks users into the Apple ecosystem e.g. only works with HomeKit and Apple Music.

> Apple Watch wasn't a hot seller Is it a hot seller ? I don't know, but I don't see many smartwatches around me. The only one person I know who has one and wears it is the boss of a friend and they make iOS apps specifically. But I don't have any numbers, and I can't find really any...

8 million units shipped in 4Q 2017. 57.5% year on year growth.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/idc-data-apple-watch-on-top-...

Re: Apple’s HomePod Isn’t a Hot Seller

#12

Post by simcop2387 »

aqzman wrote: post #6

As with all Apple products, I'm sure Apple will iterate on this and keep making a better product until it can rival Google Home and Amazon Echo. It seems quite often that Apple first generation of new products (huge exception for the original iPhone) can't really compete with competitors, but very quickly, in two or three generations, they end up with the best product on the market. Although what really surprised me…

A large part of that I think is that Amazon got to the market first. That let them get into consumer hands earlier, and 3rd party Dev hands too. Thats given them an edge in support for most random home automation stuff and other services.

Re: Apple’s HomePod Isn’t a Hot Seller

#13

Post by SirHound »

make3 wrote: post #8
SirHound wrote: post #3

I believe it. Siri is woeful. Plus they sell it as a high quality speaker yet it has no line-in for me to use with my entertainment system. For £350 that’s a hard pass from this Apple fanboy.

is Siri that bad compared to the other home assistants? from what I've seen at least, it feels pretty similar to google assistant and alexa (which imho is strictly worse than google assistant, but that's just an opinion)

I can’t speak for the other voice assistants but I use Siri purely for setting timers. If I try to ask anything remotely more adventurous it’s a crapshoot.

Something as simple as “Hey Siri turn the living room lights off” is often turned into a full discussion because it misheard “turn” and is too stupid to infer it from the rest of the sentence.

Re: Apple’s HomePod Isn’t a Hot Seller

#14

Post by realusername »

aqzman wrote: post #6

As with all Apple products, I'm sure Apple will iterate on this and keep making a better product until it can rival Google Home and Amazon Echo. It seems quite often that Apple first generation of new products (huge exception for the original iPhone) can't really compete with competitors, but very quickly, in two or three generations, they end up with the best product on the market. Although what really surprised me…

> huge exception for the original iPhone

That was the case the original iPhone as well, I would say the iPhone really took-off on it's second version.

Re: Apple’s HomePod Isn’t a Hot Seller

#15

Post by jrimbault »

threeseed wrote: post #11
jrimbault wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple Watch wasn't a hot seller Is it a hot seller ? I don't know, but I don't see many smartwatches around me. The only one person I know who has one and wears it is the boss of a friend and they make iOS apps specifically. But I don't have any numbers, and I can't find really any...

8 million units shipped in 4Q 2017. 57.5% year on year growth. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/idc-data-apple-watch-on-top-...

In the same article they say the market of wearables also has less choice and other makers are already pulling out.

Re: Apple’s HomePod Isn’t a Hot Seller

#16

Post by threeseed »

SirHound wrote: post #3

I believe it. Siri is woeful. Plus they sell it as a high quality speaker yet it has no line-in for me to use with my entertainment system. For £350 that’s a hard pass from this Apple fanboy.

It is a high end speaker. Audio testing has confirmed that.

But it isn't designed to be a replacement for a 5.2, 7.1.4 etc system. But a pair of them with an AppleTV could absolutely be your 2.1 system for watching Netflix and listening to Apple Music.

Re: Apple’s HomePod Isn’t a Hot Seller

#17

Post by melling »

aqzman wrote: post #6

As with all Apple products, I'm sure Apple will iterate on this and keep making a better product until it can rival Google Home and Amazon Echo. It seems quite often that Apple first generation of new products (huge exception for the original iPhone) can't really compete with competitors, but very quickly, in two or three generations, they end up with the best product on the market. Although what really surprised me…

They aren’t going to iterate it into a $30-$50 product.

Amazon and Google are going to sell hundreds of millions of their devices, which will allow them to improve their AI globally.

Personally, I think the Dot is smarter than Siri. I still try to throw a few questions to my iPhone and Apple Watch, but like Apple Maps, it’s a less than satisfying experience.

I need to get my girlfriend the Echo so I can stop the “Hey Siri, ...Hey Siri, ...Hey Siri” moments.

Re: Apple’s HomePod Isn’t a Hot Seller

#18

Post by Spooky23 »

make3 wrote: post #8
SirHound wrote: post #3

I believe it. Siri is woeful. Plus they sell it as a high quality speaker yet it has no line-in for me to use with my entertainment system. For £350 that’s a hard pass from this Apple fanboy.

is Siri that bad compared to the other home assistants? from what I've seen at least, it feels pretty similar to google assistant and alexa (which imho is strictly worse than google assistant, but that's just an opinion)

I think Siri is better than Alexa, worse than Google. Apple’s lockdown on the api makes it less useful in some ways, but I think it handles queries better. Alexa seems formulaic to me.

Google is under appreciated — imo its way more capable.

HomePod Siri is dumber, which 10x the irritation.

Re: Apple’s HomePod Isn’t a Hot Seller

#19

Post by threeseed »

jrimbault wrote: post #15
threeseed wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

8 million units shipped in 4Q 2017. 57.5% year on year growth. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/idc-data-apple-watch-on-top-...

In the same article they say the market of wearables also has less choice and other makers are already pulling out.

But that isn't a statement at all on the strength of the wearables market.

It is just as likely to be a repeat of the smartphone market where we saw that Apple's ability to take all of the margins from an industry caused competitors to exit.

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