HomePod heads to Hong Kong & mainland China on Jan. 18
The HomePod, available in the U.S. for nearly a year, will at last ship to Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland on Jan. 18, Apple said in a rare Sunday announcement.
"We're excited to bring HomePod to our customers in mainland China and Hong Kong markets," wrote Apple marketing head Phil Schiller. "We can't wait for them to experience how great it sounds in their home, we think they are going to love it."
The company didn't initially say how much the smartspeaker will cost, either in yuan or Hong Kong dollars. It's $349 in the U.S., but Apple products are typically more expensive in China, even with many of its assembly and supply partners operating there.
Apple notes that Siri will recognize music genres like "Mandopop" and "Cantopop," and that some AirPlay-compatible apps include the likes of QQ Music and Dragonfly FM. The company is also pushing its local "New Artist of the Week" program on Apple Music with artists like Corsak, Gong, and Lu Xianghui.
Reasons for the late launch are ambiguous, since China is a massive market and the product is already in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, and the U.K.
The HomePod has had a mixed reception, not the least because of Siri, service support, and its cost. Its pricetag is far above most smartspeakers, and while reviews have generally praised its sound quality they've derided Siri as inferior to Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant -- in part because the only natively supported services tend to be Apple's own. Whereas the HomePod only offers Apple Music, an Amazon Echo offers that and several others, such as Spotify.
"We're excited to bring HomePod to our customers in mainland China and Hong Kong markets," wrote Apple marketing head Phil Schiller. "We can't wait for them to experience how great it sounds in their home, we think they are going to love it."
The company didn't initially say how much the smartspeaker will cost, either in yuan or Hong Kong dollars. It's $349 in the U.S., but Apple products are typically more expensive in China, even with many of its assembly and supply partners operating there.
Apple notes that Siri will recognize music genres like "Mandopop" and "Cantopop," and that some AirPlay-compatible apps include the likes of QQ Music and Dragonfly FM. The company is also pushing its local "New Artist of the Week" program on Apple Music with artists like Corsak, Gong, and Lu Xianghui.
Reasons for the late launch are ambiguous, since China is a massive market and the product is already in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, and the U.K.
The HomePod has had a mixed reception, not the least because of Siri, service support, and its cost. Its pricetag is far above most smartspeakers, and while reviews have generally praised its sound quality they've derided Siri as inferior to Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant -- in part because the only natively supported services tend to be Apple's own. Whereas the HomePod only offers Apple Music, an Amazon Echo offers that and several others, such as Spotify.
Comments
What comparable devices are you using?
Apple, please ensure that the HomePod is available a few degrees to the West, in India too!
I wonder if "Cantopop" and "Mandopop" also have epic battles like the East Cost v/s West Coast Rap of yore!
Also, HomePods can be controlled without using voice. I hooked 2 up to my Apple TV. So they make sound for every movie or music I started. You can also use iPhone/iPad to control the HomePods from the Control Center, or Home app.
Siri works well for specifying songs and playlists, sometimes for HomeKit stuff (Turn on/off lights, lock doors). I never/seldom ask it general knowledge questions though. I use my Mac to search for answers.
The only comparable products are the Google Home Max, and higher end Sonos devices, and Homepod compares favorably to both in price AND sound quality.
Evidently most of America thinks the homePod at $349 is too expensive because since before Thanksgiving Day there have been Sells for $250. Hopefully they release the HomePod at that price so that it stands a chance in China. You would have to pay me to be forced to use a product with Siri which I tend to avoid. Alexa is so much better. I can't wait for John Giannandrea to start changing things.
This also the situation for the Apple TV: We cannot (up to this moment) enable Siri in AppleTV and in fact the AppleTV sold in Hong Kong has gelded the microphone for Siri.
Hope this will be changed when the HomePod ships.