Apple quietly stops selling Bose, Sonos and some Logitech gear • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple quietly stops selling Bose, Sonos and some Logitech gear

#61

Post by actuator » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 5:44 AM UTC

echelon wrote: post #25

dheera wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> air of vague menace and treachery (a) Considering their track record of wanting to monopolize and control markets, I wouldn't put it past them. (b) Many stores do put out announcements if they remove products for ideological reasons.

(Of course you got downvoted...) How can Apple be, 1. An operating system and business software company 2. A cell phone company 3. An exclusive marketplace for apps 4. A movie studio and streaming service 5. A music studio and streaming service 6. A hardware company whose products predominantly work with and favor other Apple branded hardware 7. ... How can Google, Amazon, and Apple all do this? Pretty soon they're g…

You nailed it so well in this comment, I have been pointing out this from when they launched Apple Music.

The classic excuse which people hide behind is "but they don't have a monopoly". Sure, they don't have a monopoly in precise terms. But the power they have to push products in new verticals is just unfair to the competition as they can't compete on equal terms.

Jabra's parent company in total earns less than 10% of what Apple earns selling just Airpods. It would be really sad if we lose iconic companies like Bose to these "want to own everything" tech giants.

Sidenote: This downvoting pattern on critical comments on any threads related to Apple has been absurd for quite some time. Somehow we have entered into a territory where say a company like FB always is upto no good for most here but the opposite is true for Apple.

Re: Apple quietly stops selling Bose, Sonos and some Logitech gear

#62

Post by ajkblue » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 5:44 AM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #57

tshaddox wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know people who use iPhones but require their smart speaker to work as a Bluetooth speaker? I think it’s pretty clear the HomePod is only intended for iPhone (or maybe Mac) users.

My home is all Apple products, but we returned our two HomePods after we learned that we can't use them as a stereo pair if we're playing off a computer (unless the source is iTunes). We could use our iPhone to play to the stereo pair from any app. But on the Mac, they disallow this. You can't even get them to both play the same audio — you have to choose one of them to play and the other to sit silent. This is ridic…

Wasn’t this fixed in Big Sur?

Re: Apple quietly stops selling Bose, Sonos and some Logitech gear

#63

Post by mrweasel » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 5:50 AM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #57

tshaddox wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know people who use iPhones but require their smart speaker to work as a Bluetooth speaker? I think it’s pretty clear the HomePod is only intended for iPhone (or maybe Mac) users.

My home is all Apple products, but we returned our two HomePods after we learned that we can't use them as a stereo pair if we're playing off a computer (unless the source is iTunes). We could use our iPhone to play to the stereo pair from any app. But on the Mac, they disallow this. You can't even get them to both play the same audio — you have to choose one of them to play and the other to sit silent. This is ridic…

There was a program for the mac, at some point, which could hijack audio from any application and stream it over airplay. It would be a silly work-around, but maybe something for people to try if otherwise like the HomePod

Re: Apple quietly stops selling Bose, Sonos and some Logitech gear

#64

Post by theshrike79 » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 5:51 AM UTC

croissants wrote: post #2

Is "quietly" really the appropriate word here? Do stores typically put out announcements when they stop stocking certain products? If not, "quietly" just seems to be a way to create an air of vague menace and treachery without saying it.

It has the same connotation as a "secret" celebrity wedding.

It makes it seem like the wedding was clad in huge secrecy, when in actuality they just didn't put out a press release announcing it and didn't invite the media.

Makes for good headlines though.

Re: Apple quietly stops selling Bose, Sonos and some Logitech gear

#65

Post by babesh » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 5:52 AM UTC

echelon wrote: post #25

dheera wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> air of vague menace and treachery (a) Considering their track record of wanting to monopolize and control markets, I wouldn't put it past them. (b) Many stores do put out announcements if they remove products for ideological reasons.

(Of course you got downvoted...) How can Apple be, 1. An operating system and business software company 2. A cell phone company 3. An exclusive marketplace for apps 4. A movie studio and streaming service 5. A music studio and streaming service 6. A hardware company whose products predominantly work with and favor other Apple branded hardware 7. ... How can Google, Amazon, and Apple all do this? Pretty soon they're g…

Apple is applying the suite strategy to the consumer device/services market. Each new market results in a new product integrated into its suite. Individual products don’t have to be best in class since part of the value is in the integration, part of the advantage is in distribution, etc...

Re: Apple quietly stops selling Bose, Sonos and some Logitech gear

#66

Post by gnicholas » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 5:54 AM UTC

ajkblue wrote: post #62

gnicholas wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My home is all Apple products, but we returned our two HomePods after we learned that we can't use them as a stereo pair if we're playing off a computer (unless the source is iTunes). We could use our iPhone to play to the stereo pair from any app. But on the Mac, they disallow this. You can't even get them to both play the same audio — you have to choose one of them to play and the other to sit silent. This is ridic…

Wasn’t this fixed in Big Sur?

Hey, what do you know, looks like it is/was. Might be worth reconsidering after all.

Though at this point in the refresh cycle I'd be hard-pressed to buy a HomePod, since they're getting long in the tooth.

Re: Apple quietly stops selling Bose, Sonos and some Logitech gear

#67

Post by gnicholas » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 5:55 AM UTC

mrweasel wrote: post #63

gnicholas wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My home is all Apple products, but we returned our two HomePods after we learned that we can't use them as a stereo pair if we're playing off a computer (unless the source is iTunes). We could use our iPhone to play to the stereo pair from any app. But on the Mac, they disallow this. You can't even get them to both play the same audio — you have to choose one of them to play and the other to sit silent. This is ridic…

There was a program for the mac, at some point, which could hijack audio from any application and stream it over airplay. It would be a silly work-around, but maybe something for people to try if otherwise like the HomePod

> * which could hijack audio*

It's called Audio Hijack [1], but I don't think it reliably supports stereo pairs.

1: https://rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/

Re: Apple quietly stops selling Bose, Sonos and some Logitech gear

#68

Post by recursive » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 6:10 AM UTC

notJim wrote: post #45

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was blown away when I found out they don’t work as a simple AUX device. My friend has homepods but she was using TV speakers because they can’t accept TV audio. She said it kind of works with Apple TV but audio sync is an issue and that still leaves out things like Nintendo Switch games or movies played off a laptop. Crazy to me that they don’t have AUX in. She recently got a pair of $130 powered speakers from amaz…

That's not really what this type of speaker is for. It's more a speaker for your bedroom or kitchen that you use from your phone or via voice. My Sonos One doesn't have Aux in either, although some of the other speakers do.

I don't understand why that's a different thing. I have some speakers in my kitchen that I use from my phone. They also have a quarter inch input jack. I mean, why wouldn't they?

Re: Apple quietly stops selling Bose, Sonos and some Logitech gear

#69

Post by dr_dshiv » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 6:13 AM UTC

echelon wrote: post #25

dheera wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> air of vague menace and treachery (a) Considering their track record of wanting to monopolize and control markets, I wouldn't put it past them. (b) Many stores do put out announcements if they remove products for ideological reasons.

(Of course you got downvoted...) How can Apple be, 1. An operating system and business software company 2. A cell phone company 3. An exclusive marketplace for apps 4. A movie studio and streaming service 5. A music studio and streaming service 6. A hardware company whose products predominantly work with and favor other Apple branded hardware 7. ... How can Google, Amazon, and Apple all do this? Pretty soon they're g…

Hey, don't worry, big companies will be way easier to nationalize. Then we will have an apple store on every block!

Re: Apple quietly stops selling Bose, Sonos and some Logitech gear

#70

Post by jrnichols » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 6:20 AM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #57

tshaddox wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know people who use iPhones but require their smart speaker to work as a Bluetooth speaker? I think it’s pretty clear the HomePod is only intended for iPhone (or maybe Mac) users.

My home is all Apple products, but we returned our two HomePods after we learned that we can't use them as a stereo pair if we're playing off a computer (unless the source is iTunes). We could use our iPhone to play to the stereo pair from any app. But on the Mac, they disallow this. You can't even get them to both play the same audio — you have to choose one of them to play and the other to sit silent. This is ridic…

Was this currently? I am unable to recreate that issue with mine. 2020 MacBook Air and 2 x HomePod units in a stereo pair. I can select the stereo pair from my MacBook and it's working fine for me.

how often were you doing this? from what app?