Apple putting Apple Music on Amazon devices makes no sense to me. It does nothing to enhance Apple’s ecosystem. All it does is allow you to stream music Apple doesn’t own using another voice platform. The amount of extra services revenue they’ll get is a rounding error on their financials. And who at Apple thinks it’s a good idea for the company to be promoting Alexa? WTF? I feel bad for the HomePod team. Apparently employees who work on that product didn’t know anything about this Apple Music deal with Amazon and are not happy about it.
How is this really that different than Apple Music on Android or iTunes on Windows?
The Echo has an overwhelmingly commanding lead in this market. The reality is there are many households that are all in on Apple but also have quite a few Amazon Echos around the house. Myself included. I want one of these devices in pretty much every room and that is simply not practical, not just from a cost perspective but also from a size perspective. They are simply to large for some of the places I have Echo Dots.
The way I look at it, the HomePod is the equivalent of the iPod classic. It’s big, expensive, and more than most people want or need. The iPod really took off when the iPod mini was released. The HomePod is still waiting for it’s iPod mini equivalent.
iTunes on Windows was about selling iPods. The only way to get music onto an iPod was via a computer and most people owned Windows PCs so of course it made sense to port iTunes to Windows. Beats Music was already on Android so no surprise Apple Music would be there. I’m just floored that Apple would be sending push notifications promoting Alexa. I can understand why some Apple employees are pissed. If I worked on Siri or HomePod I would be too.
Apple putting Apple Music on Amazon devices makes no sense to me. It does nothing to enhance Apple’s ecosystem. All it does is allow you to stream music Apple doesn’t own using another voice platform. The amount of extra services revenue they’ll get is a rounding error on their financials. And who at Apple thinks it’s a good idea for the company to be promoting Alexa? WTF? I feel bad for the HomePod team. Apparently employees who work on that product didn’t know anything about this Apple Music deal with Amazon and are not happy about it.
How is this really that different than Apple Music on Android or iTunes on Windows?
I mean iTunes on Windows allowed Apple to sell a large volume of content. Which in turn sold iPod touches. Allowing Apple Music on a Echo will generate Apple penny’s. Apple couldnt even nogotiate to get Bezos to add AirPlay support to Echos in exchange?
Apple putting Apple Music on Amazon devices makes no sense to me. It does nothing to enhance Apple’s ecosystem. All it does is allow you to stream music Apple doesn’t own using another voice platform. The amount of extra services revenue they’ll get is a rounding error on their financials. And who at Apple thinks it’s a good idea for the company to be promoting Alexa? WTF? I feel bad for the HomePod team. Apparently employees who work on that product didn’t know anything about this Apple Music deal with Amazon and are not happy about it.
How is this really that different than Apple Music on Android or iTunes on Windows?
I mean iTunes on Windows allowed Apple to sell a large volume of content. Which in turn sold iPod touches. Allowing Apple Music on a Echo will generate Apple penny’s. Apple couldnt even nogotiate to get Bezos to add AirPlay support to Echos in exchange?
Putting Amazon Music on Echo is like the HomePod waiving a white flag of surrender.
Putting Apple Music on Echo will not put HomePod at stakes. Buyers of HomePod know what and why they are buying, they will still buy it. HomePod addresses a different audience than Echo.
Putting Amazon Music on Echo is like the HomePod waiving a white flag of surrender.
This. I had no idea the Echo could play Apple Music. My wife actually had to tell me because I don’t really care about Amazon hardware. Was really hoping for a cheaper Apple alternative to the HomePod just to play music in the kitchen or bathroom. Looks like Apple is admitting the best way to do this is through their competitors hardware. Sure it won’t sound as good, but I’m not spending $350 on something that maybe gets 20-30 min of use a day.
It will sound better than a HomePod if you pick up a cheap dot and wire it into a nice sound system with graphic EQ.
If you want to drive people away from your platform then this is a good way to go about it.
AMZN adverts are everywhere at the moment. Every Ad break on TV there is the smiley face and that awful music trying to get people to by stuff they don't need and can't afford it.
AMZN is the last place I go for stuff these days. Shop local (while you can).
I do have to admit I found it a bit puzzling that Apple is allowing their music to be served up by Alexa but then again from a shareholder standpoint it makes good business sense. Think of the additional revenue Apple will be pulling in for basically licensing their music service to Amazon. Tim Cook is all about the bottom line and squeezing every ounce of revenue he can out of their (Apple's) existing product lineup.
I seem to be in the minority here but I can see why Apple would do this. It's not a perfect strategy but it works if they realise they have gaps with Siri and the low end of the speaker market. There is probably a reasonable proportion of Music subscribers that want a HomePod in their main listening space and an Echo or two elsewhere, or they don't want to fork out for a HomePod at all. Apple could put out a HomePod Mini but maybe they've decided not to play in that low end just yet, too much competition, not enough quality, potential this early to cannibalise HomePod classic means low profit. If I had an Echo and couldn't play Apple Music on it, I'd switch the music service, not the device. Having used Apple, Google, and Spotify, there's not much in between them. Apple wants to keep its services revenue ticking along even if it means working with the competition to give customers more choice, then it makes sense.
1. HomePod has 70% of the $200+ market. Around 6% of the overall market. Apple’s repeatedly stated goal is to make the best, not the most. They have succeeded with HomePod in that regard. They target customers who are actually shopping for a quality speaker, not an inexpensive voice-driven command line interface.
2. Most customers really don’t care about these push notifications. For many, it’s a break from the monotony of social notifications and texts. Or games calling you back to play.
I do have to admit I found it a bit puzzling that Apple is allowing their music to be served up by Alexa but then again from a shareholder standpoint it makes good business sense. Think of the additional revenue Apple will be pulling in for basically licensing their music service to Amazon. Tim Cook is all about the bottom line and squeezing every ounce of revenue he can out of their (Apple's) existing product lineup.
Because Jeff Bezos is playing chess while Tim Cook and Eddy Cue are playing checkers? If you’re right then Apple should be sticking Apple Music on Sonos and Google Home too. And HomePod can continue to be an overpriced niche product while Siri continues to languish.
I seem to be in the minority here but I can see why Apple would do this. It's not a perfect strategy but it works if they realise they have gaps with Siri and the low end of the speaker market. There is probably a reasonable proportion of Music subscribers that want a HomePod in their main listening space and an Echo or two elsewhere, or they don't want to fork out for a HomePod at all. Apple could put out a HomePod Mini but maybe they've decided not to play in that low end just yet, too much competition, not enough quality, potential this early to cannibalise HomePod classic means low profit. If I had an Echo and couldn't play Apple Music on it, I'd switch the music service, not the device. Having used Apple, Google, and Spotify, there's not much in between them. Apple wants to keep its services revenue ticking along even if it means working with the competition to give customers more choice, then it makes sense.
Here’s an idea: how about Apple make a cheaper companion to the HomePod? If the current HomePod has a specific audience and it’s not threatened by cheaper products from Amazon or Google then it wouldn’t be threatened by a cheaper product from Apple either would it? This way people would be staying in Apple’s ecosystem instead of Apple promoting a competitor to Siri. I’d be curious to know how many people are buying products like the Echo Dot because they do a lot of shopping with Amazon vs they just want in on the smart speaker and the Dot is a cheaper way to get in. If it’s the latter Apple absolutely could grab those people with a cheaper HomePod mini. But with this move I don’t see that happening. Unfortunately the powers that be at Apple are positioning HomePod as a music speaker not a voice assistant that can play music and has superior sound quality.
I find these notifications very annoying. Can’t they at least be silent? Like when was I asked if I wanted a Screentime weekly summary complete with annoying sound every Sunday morning at 9:20??!
Putting Amazon Music on Echo is like the HomePod waiving a white flag of surrender.
Actually a pretty keen observation. Amazingly engineered, overpriced flop.
What exactly makes it ( Homepod ) a flop? Do you have #'s to back that up? Do you have a clue what apple's sales goals were/are for the device?
It directly competes with speaker at the same price point, and does a VERY good job at it. It's not a Dot or an Echo. Even though folks lump it in with those cheap devices it simply isn't in the same ballpark.
Google Home Max at $399.00 USD and the former Sonos 3 at 299.00 and the current Sonos 5 at $499.00 USD are it's direct competitors.
Spam e-mails, phone calls, and app notifications are successful because there is no real cost to the vendor that sends them out. Junk mail folders don’t work for email because there is no additional cost to the sender. Telemarking call blocking doesn’t help because there is no cost to the caller (investigate Jolly Roger Telephone for an alternative that DOES cost the person that calls you). Similarly, disabling app notifications doesn’t help in this situation.
To get stuff like this to stop, EVERYONE that received an alert like this should schedule an appointment at the local Genius Bar for assistance on disabling the notifications. Without making this spam notification cost Apple something, the practice will not stop.
Turned off Apple Music when it was first introduced and there is no way I’ll ever pay for a streaming audio music service. When Apple made it part of the Music app that infuriated me.
The notifications are plain wrong and shouldn’t be happening, unless users have specifically opted into these sort of messages. I suspect here in the EU they are actually illegal without that explicit consent, which would explain why I haven’t seen them.
That said I’m not sure why anyone is surprised at the expansion into Alexa. The HomePod is pretty obviously a flop, and even if it weren’t there are still a huge amount of Echo’s out there. Apple Music isn’t like other closed off parts of the Apple ecosystem, it’s still trailing longer established competitors like Spotify, it cannot survive only within the walled Apple orchard when competing services are available literally anywhere and on anything. It needs to be on Echos, Android phones, toasters, you name it. Then it’s more attractive, and draws people in, and in turns helps to drive sales of other Apple hardware and services.
Putting Amazon Music on Echo is like the HomePod waiving a white flag of surrender.
Amazon recently became and official Apple reseller. I would suspect this was simply all part of the negotiations for that to happen. No big deal and has zero to do with HomePods. Some people want small speakers with genuine audiophile quality with beam forming technology with astounding clarity and incredible bass some people want a cheap gizmo they can ask trivia questions and don't care of it sounds like a 1980's transistor radio. It's simply horses for courses.
I've never liked it when companies use their existing products to directly advertise at you. Apple did it with Sherlock in OS 8.6, it didn't go down well and was promptly removed - likely at the behest of Jobs. Again this is down to falling sales, which could be fixed overnight if Cook would suck it up and drop prices.
Putting Amazon Music on Echo is like the HomePod waiving a white flag of surrender.
To me it seems this may well be the case, but it also seems to prove Cook would rather give up on a product than drop its price. I have a HomePod and it is good; the sound is excellent, but it certainly isn't without flaws - looking at you Siri. Even if Siri was perfect, isn't worth its asking price. Knock £100 off and they'd sell like hot cakes.
Putting Amazon Music on Echo is like the HomePod waiving a white flag of surrender.
Maybe someone with an Android and heavily into Alexa now has a reason to subscribe to Apple Music. I mean how stupid of Apple to make their subscription (i.e. PAID) music service more easily accessible on other platforms.
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iTunes on Windows was about selling iPods. The only way to get music onto an iPod was via a computer and most people owned Windows PCs so of course it made sense to port iTunes to Windows. Beats Music was already on Android so no surprise Apple Music would be there. I’m just floored that Apple would be sending push notifications promoting Alexa. I can understand why some Apple employees are pissed. If I worked on Siri or HomePod I would be too.
It will sound better than a HomePod if you pick up a cheap dot and wire it into a nice sound system with graphic EQ.
1. HomePod has 70% of the $200+ market. Around 6% of the overall market. Apple’s repeatedly stated goal is to make the best, not the most. They have succeeded with HomePod in that regard. They target customers who are actually shopping for a quality speaker, not an inexpensive voice-driven command line interface.
2. Most customers really don’t care about these push notifications. For many, it’s a break from the monotony of social notifications and texts. Or games calling you back to play.
To get stuff like this to stop, EVERYONE that received an alert like this should schedule an appointment at the local Genius Bar for assistance on disabling the notifications. Without making this spam notification cost Apple something, the practice will not stop.
That said I’m not sure why anyone is surprised at the expansion into Alexa. The HomePod is pretty obviously a flop, and even if it weren’t there are still a huge amount of Echo’s out there. Apple Music isn’t like other closed off parts of the Apple ecosystem, it’s still trailing longer established competitors like Spotify, it cannot survive only within the walled Apple orchard when competing services are available literally anywhere and on anything. It needs to be on Echos, Android phones, toasters, you name it. Then it’s more attractive, and draws people in, and in turns helps to drive sales of other Apple hardware and services.
To me it seems this may well be the case, but it also seems to prove Cook would rather give up on a product than drop its price. I have a HomePod and it is good; the sound is excellent, but it certainly isn't without flaws - looking at you Siri. Even if Siri was perfect, isn't worth its asking price. Knock £100 off and they'd sell like hot cakes.