AppleInsider Staff
Apple employees are getting a late Christmas gift from the tech giant in the form of a 50 percent discount on the new HomePod speaker, which hits store shelves at $349 next week.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple workers can take advantage of the hefty price cut for a period of two months.
Apple previously extended deep product discounts to employees when Apple Watch first launched in 2015. At the time, the Calif., company offered an identical 50 percent savings on Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport models, and $500 off the solid gold Edition series.
Beyond the two month timeframe reported by Gurman, details of the HomePod discount are not yet known. However, Apple will likely follow a plan similar to the Apple Watch incentive, which offered discounts at preorder.
HomePod went up for sale last Friday ahead of a scheduled launch date of Feb. 9. The at-home speaker features high-end audio components including multi-tweeter and microphone arrays, as well as advanced algorithms designed to deliver room-filling sound.
Like other smart speakers currently for sale by Amazon and Google, HomePod supports a virtual assistant in Apple's Siri alongside compatibility with connected home accessories via HomeKit.
Most recently, Apple this week confirmed audio support for its diminutive speaker, noting compatibility with first-party services like Apple Music, Beats 1, iTunes purchases and Match tracks, and podcasts.
Marko Zivkovic
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
Amber Neely
Andrew O'Hara
76 Comments
Pre-orders low. “It’s a hobby” 😂
I’m looking forward to getting mine. I don’t want to run the AppleTV just to listen to music and I don’t have a speaker system anyway.
If it was that price all the time the audio performance would devastate competitor smart speakers and be an instant hit. as it is I reckon it is priced out of most of the market.
I pre-ordered. Used to 1 week delivery on iPhones, I was ready for picking it up at the Apple Store today.
This morning I realized it would be next Friday.
I'm sad. Can't wait another week.
Selling like hot-cakes!
Cost is a relative thing. Perhaps Apple would have been better to introduce HomePod at $175 in order to firstly gain market share, and then move up to premium HomePodPro models. They couldn’t drop the quality though, people expect poor quality from Google and Samsung, even Amazon, but poor quality from Apple would not be tolerated, so it would have to be the same model, but at a price that doesn’t really make them money - which a lot of companies do to gain traction. That said, $349 is not a lot for an excellent speaker system, which HomePod is. Well advanced technically from the competing tinny speakers, and cheaper that Google’s premium speaker, it’s main issue is that people compare it to the little tinnies because of its similar look and size. Looking forward to receiving mine next week!