AppleInsider Staff
In its latest advertising push for HomePod, Apple on Monday shared a new ad directed by acclaimed music video and film director Spike Jonze, and starring English performer FKA twigs, who uses the speaker to unwind after a hard day's work.
The four-minute short begins with Twigs making the commute home on a crowded train, through a bustling, rainy street and out of a stuffed elevator to her small apartment.
"Hey Siri, play me something I'd like," she says.
Siri complies, playing the dulcet tones of "Til It's Over" by Anderson .Paak as Twigs sits with a glass of water on her couch. As the song builds, she finds herself swept up in the tunes and begins dancing.
In true Jonze fashion, the video takes on a surreal feel as the room stretches, curves, bends and morphs to Twigs' movements. Walls elongate at her command, mirrors expand until, finally, the singer herself is duplicated. The two Twigs dance a duet in a dark room, with one retreating to her couch, where she wakes up, seemingly from a dream.
The idea, it seems, is HomePod can transport listeners to another dimension, one free of the worries of today.
Like other recent HomePod spots, Apple's latest ad places heavy emphasis on sound and music, not Siri smarts.
Apple revealed HomePod at WWDC 2017 as its first foray into the crowded smart speaker space. Powered by an A8 SoC and custom audio components like a multi-microphone, multi-tweeter array that assists in beamforming and adaptive noise cancellation, HomePod is a study in advanced acoustic engineering.
Reviews of the speaker, including AppleInsider's, found the hardware top-notch, with high-fidelity sound for such a diminutive device, but lacking in the virtual assistant department. For now, Siri is severely constrained to Apple's ecosystem of services which include Apple Music, iTunes, HomeKit and iCloud. Even then, Siri on HomePod has no Calendar access, nor can the device place phone calls.
Apple opened preorders for the speaker in January ahead of a Feb. 9 release date.
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Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
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Andrew Orr
17 Comments
Guys, the last 2-3 lines of the article are being cut off by the iOS app. Could you look into this?
AM-A-ZING!
Wow, now that's a good ad! Because it focuses on the experience, in a super-creative way!
“The idea, it seems, is HomePod can transport listeners to another dimension, one free of the worries of today. ”
Yeah, well, maybe that too. But the idea, it seemed to me, is that HomePod makes your small space seem more expensive. The article author correctly reads the clues - a crowded train, stuffy elevator, small apartment - but didn’t quite nail the message.
Hey Siri, please get an update so I can share my Apple calendar with you.
Does this make anyone want to run out and buy a HomePod?