Friday marks the launch of Apple's foray into home audio, the HomePod, a compact yet booming smart speaker that will delight your ears and possibly annoy your neighbors. AppleInsider offers a closer look at the newly released hardware.
Although early HomePod orders appear to be doing well, Apple could ship a "low-end" model this fall costing between $150 and $200 instead of the current model's $349, an analyst said Friday in an investor memo seen by AppleInsider.
Apple's AppleCare+ extended warranty and accidental damage repair program for the HomePod retails for $39, with a single out-of-warranty repair like accidental damage from a drop otherwise costing the user $279 uncovered, and $39 when under the program.
This week on the AppleInsider podcast, Victor and Neil talk about HomePod, rumored iPhones and Bryan Fuller's inability to stay on a show. In addition, Michal Jurewicz joins to talk about audio digital signal processing.
Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple all have voice assistants vying for attention, and all are moving the concept of computer-human voice interaction forward. AppleInsider offers an abbreviated history of how we got here and the capabilities of these assistants and their devices in anticipation of HomePod. What do these things do? What do people use them for? And what is Apple doing differently?
HomePod is now on sale at Apple retail locations in Australia, New Zealand and other areas where the clock turned Friday, and customers who recently took receipt of the new smart speaker are posting photos of the device to social media outlets.
Apple's online store is showing constrained HomePod supply in the U.S. after early reviews of the device went live on Tuesday, with orders placed today estimated for delivery by Feb. 12 at the earliest.
People buying a HomePod will have to rely on the speaker's own automatic EQ adjustments, as there are no manual controls, Apple's senior VP of Internet Software and Services said at today's Pollstar Live conference for the concert industry.
Apple recently took a well-known blog on a tour of its audio labs, using the occasion to talk up its first smartspeaker, the HomePod, shipping on Feb. 9 for $349.
As a home audio device, Apple's HomePod is a hit with critics, who have lauded the $349 accessory's superior sound quality. But the standalone speaker has not addressed the shortcomings of Siri, an area where HomePod lagged behind the capabilities of competitors Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
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.
Apple is criticized for making much of its revenues from one hit product: iPhone. However, its newest foray into Wearables has not only become its fastest-growing revenue source behind iPhone, but is also larger and growing more rapidly than other top tech firms' hyped future growth segments, such as Amazon's ads business, Google's Cloud and Alphabet's Other Bets.
While the $399 Google Home Max and the $349 Apple HomePod are roughly aiming for the same market, both have taken very different approaches. AppleInsider compares the hardware, and delves into which speaker might work the best for you.
In newly-published specifications, Apple has confirmed that streaming on the Siri-equipped HomePod — shipping Feb. 9 — will focus mainly on its own services.
After a teaser suggested new voice options could be coming to Alexa, the release of Amazon's full Super Bowl spot reveals it was all just a joke, setting up a primetime ad where celebrities substitute in for Alexa — and poorly.
With days to go before the launch of Apple's Siri-powered HomePod smart speaker, Amazon will unveil changes to its own personal assistant, Alexa, likely to come in the form of new voice options.
Owners of the HomePod — shipping on Feb. 9 — should be able to ask Siri to stream any files uploaded to iTunes Match, not just material hosted on Apple Music.
Apple Kicked off promotional efforts for its new HomePod on Saturday with four short ads showing off the smart speaker's svelte chassis and unique LCD control panel.
The HomePod stands to be an audiophile's ideal speaker when it ships on Feb. 9, in no small part due to the considerable effort Apple has put into audio processing for the device. Audio expert Matt Hines of iZotope explains some of the technical hurdles Apple and other smart speaker producers have to overcome to provide a high-quality audio experience in a wide variety of environments.
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Neil Hughes
Roger Fingas
Mike Wuerthele
Victor Marks
AppleInsider Staff
Daniel Eran Dilger
Malcolm Owen
