Malcolm Owen
The launch of the HomePod in Spain and Mexico on Friday has opened up speculation of the smart speaker's release in other countries, including an announcement about a rollout in Italy that could be revealed during the company's Oct. 30 event.
The HomePod's launch in Spain and Mexico required support for the Spanish language, in order to allow it to understand queries and perform commands. It is claimed Apple is already performing tests via its Apple Store employees in Italy, in order to prepare support for Italian for the speaker's version of Siri.
Sources advised to iSpaio the occurrence of the trials approximately one month ago, where dictation tests were performed by store staff. A number of employees have confirmed the tests, which strongly hints at the added language support arriving soon.
Using employees for trials allows Apple to confirm Siri has been calibrated to the language properly, including the way commands are pronounced and regional accent variations.
While a release date for Italy remains unclear, it is thought more information about when it would be could be one of numerous announcements made during Tuesday's special event, which is expected to feature new iPad Pro models alongside Macs and other hardware.
The HomePod is currently available in only eight countries, with launches in France, Germany, and Canada in June doubling the count from the existing markets of the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, as well as today's additions of Spain and Mexico.
The Homepod is priced at 349 euros ($397) in Spain, and 7,999 pesos ($411) in Mexico. Apple CEO Tim Cook used part of his European tour to promote the HomePod in Madrid on Thursday, ahead of its launch in the country.
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5 Comments
Apple HomePod looks like a giant marshmallow. Yummy!
I certanly hope that Apple updates/fixes the numerous Siri related issues regarding the basic recognition, requests & controlling of the HomePod, and it’s ability to play requested songs.
They sound great when you can get them to listen and play the music that you want. The hardware team did a really great job.
While Apple has billions of dollars in their coffers, they still seem to be deaf to the numerous complaints. Or simply cheap and unwilling to resolve the requests of the many often repeated software/siri issues.
One might guess that if the HomePod is seeing a wider worldwide relese, that newer (or less expensive) ones are unlikely to appear soon, much less next week.
From what I have read (biography of Steve Jobs)... I wouldn’t count on any lower priced HomePods anytime soon. Like Ferrari and Rolex, (luxury concept) Apple believes in setting themselves apart based on price... Not competing based on price.
As a matter of fact, most reviews compare the HomePod to its less expensive brethren. But when you compare the sound and the hardware put into each, they are not even remotely in the same class!