It was positioned badly price wise from the start and that mistake permanently killed it. No recovery from that gross mistake. And Apple has repeated it on steroids with Airpods Max. It too will fail in the market, for the very same reason.
Agree. Price point was I’ll conceived. But it’s not like they couldn’t correct it over time with design refinements while maintaining sound quality. The HomePod was a great design, and I would argue still technically the best solution among its competitors. Siri didn’t help. While Siri works very well for music, it remains woefully inadequate for any other tasking. One could write a book on what’s wrong with Siri.
The sad bottom line, Apple just announced to the world that they should not be trusted to make a sound systems. This was a bad bad bad decision Apple. Sometimes I just don’t know what you’re thinking.
I can't argue that there's not a message here to consumers that perhaps Apple hasn't fully considered. And I concur Siri is a hot mess. The only place I use Siri on a recurring basis is in the car to find directions, play music I have stored locally, or to send/read a text. Most of the time Siri responds with "go look at your iPhone."Or worse, "hummm....I can't find these devices etc etc" to which I then ask Alexa to do the same thing to a few lights and poof done.
HomePods are just something I don't need. YMMV. And it is quickly becoming that way with AppleTV. I seldom use that box now, mostly because i detest that remote.
I suspect strongly that Apple's interest in sound systems is tied tightly to their efforts to sell Apple Music subscriptions. And that is becoming increasingly irrelevant too.
This is by far the stupidest thing that Apple has done in a very long time.
I have about $1000 of HomePods that now have a very fuzzy future on support, new features, bug fixes, etc
The issues posed by this decision and the failure to realize how detrimental this is to their offering IMO includes but is not limited to:
1. The one thing with the HomePod truly does well is music. It’s a crap smart assistant compared to its competitors. The experience with the HomePod mini is the same overall, however it sounds only marginally better than my iPad at best. Meaning it’s still a smart speaker but only really excels at being able to play music on Apple Music, but it just doesn’t sound all that good doing it.
2. I would expect the HomePod mini would act as an entry point to the HomePod ecosystem for many. And there’s no doubt in my mind that if the HomePod ecosystem grows through the HomePod mini, with a little patience OG HomePod sales would grow alongside it. I assume that was part of the rationale in introducing the HomePod mini. The HomePod mini would be the iPhone, and the HomePod would be the iPhone pro.
3. While the Apple smart home experience is far from perfect, I would consider it semi-complete. If you remove the OG HomePod from the mix it gets really confusing and silly. It leaves big gaping holes in what their “vision” is for a functioning ecosystem in a smart home top to bottom. For example, say I buy offbrand airplay 2 speakers that I want to be able to use to play apple music in my home. I, like many of you would refuse to use anything that listens all the time made by Google or Amazon, which means that I either have to tell my phone hey siri to play music in a certain room (something it doesn’t do very well, and never mind the fact that for some reason the watch still doesn’t do this with siri) or I still have a HomePod mini in that room that I would tell to play the music. But you would have to word it so that you’re telling the HomePod mini to play music on another speaker in that room and not the HomePod mini itself. Because I really do want a decent smart assist and a decent speaker in the same room. And when you consider multiple rooms, like what, do actually expect you to have a HomePod mini along with an actual decent sounding airplay/HomeKit speaker in every room?
4. I don’t expect that they will support this software wise with new features very long, let alone bug fixes. Also let alone in a timely manner. And with how many bugs still exist and have existed for a long time my expectations that they ever get fixed is lowered further. It’s not being replaced by a new model, it’s being discontinued. It runs the same software as the mini, sure, but the hardware is different. Which doesn’t bode super well imo for attention of any sort. It’s already neglected before it was discontinued.
5. as it starts to get gray in the face software update wise, I can definitely see a scenario for those that use it entirely as a home hub on HomeKit or as one of their home hubs on HomeKit, where without buying a new device you either don’t get all the new HomeKit features and improvements, or you have a much buggier experience. Something that is already been a problem in the past between different home hubs. Also , Remember that you can’t disable the HomePod as a home hub like you can an Apple TV.
6. Did I mention how truly stupid this seems to me? Like it feels like I should sell the three I have and get out early. They are signaling they aren’t going to offer anything in this market segment at the moment. They are already neglected software wise, it will only get worse, and they’re so proprietary, and they weren’t cheap.
Anyone else?!
Yeah. This post is the stupidest thing you've done in a long time. Apple has discontinued a lot of products over the year and they still work just fine. It's not going to turn into a brick just because it's no longer manufactured.
avon b7 said: A 360ºC design on a product with a cable? And a not long cable at that. Placing the product in a central position position would leave the cable as a tripwire, so inevitably they were placed in non-central positions, perhaps defeating the purpose of a 360ºC design
Non-central positions did not defeat the purpose. The HomePod was designed to take sound reflection into account, so putting them closer to a wall like a standard speaker was never an issue.
But what were the parts facing the wall or shelf doing? Basically nothing? That's a lot of engineering and analysis to reach an end result where the hardware basically is switched off. Or is it firing sound into the wall anyway?
All speakers are working. You should have read the in-depth analysis on this when it first came out. Those who say the HomePod was too expensive never understood the incredible sound engineering that went into this product. And Shane on Apple marketing for not touting the technology behind it all. HomePod is still the best speaker in it class. It’s a shame Apple pulled the plug. Sends all the wrong messages.
I think there were conceptual flaws that stood out.
A 360ºC design on a product with a cable? And a not long cable at that. Placing the product in a central position position would leave the cable as a tripwire, so inevitably they were placed in non-central positions, perhaps defeating the purpose of a 360ºC design.
My only 'live' experience with one was at an Apple Store (where it was also placed on a table which was set against the wall) and the guy that was selling me a phone couldn't get it to stop playing via Siri. He ended up exasperated.
Obviously the setting wasn't perfect to evaluate audio quality but nothing about the sound stood out in any way.
Price was always a big factor, as was the debate over the 'stereo' aspect and the thought of needing two to get a better experience.
There was also the issue of flexibility in what you could pump into it, and how. This kind of product, engineered from the ground up as a wireless product, should not be erecting 'walls' as to what can be played and even as a wireless product, should have had an AUX input of some kind. When support gets axed for whatever reason, having an AUX input would keep the device going even without 'the smarts'.
The fact that they have killed it off instead of leaving it as a niche or 'hobby' product, says a lot. Sales were probably very poor but I can't help but think that the retail price was the biggest reason for that. Launching at $199 might have seen this decision never taken or even considered.
Siri seems to be an utter mess in terms of what it can do on different devices. That must be amazingly perplexing for your average user. And launching without a fully 'functioning' Siri was an error. Saying that Siri wasn't its key feature doesn't 't make a lot of sense either. Those mics are there for good reason.
Anyway those are my off the cuff comments from a person that ruled the device out for those main reasons when it was available in my area. I haven't checked to make sure what I just wrote was actually 100% correct because the asking price was never going to get in on my purchasing radar.
I think I'm not alone with that line of thinking.
It has all the conceptual clarity and aesthetic elegance of the "magic" mouse laying upside down to charge, or the most abominable remote of all time (which you'll need to be able to use the HomePod, since you need the AppleTV).
The Apple TV remote could have easily been updates long ago. But they’ve left it withering on the vine.
There does seem to be some sclerosis in product management at Apple. The current VP of hardware engineering clearly has his eye elsewhere but his lieutenants don’t seem to be empowered to make decisions about product enhancements. Not a good situation and it needs Tim’s attention.
Of course, it's also possible that sales of the HomePod fell off a cliff because everyone bought HomePod Minis instead.
I mean, £99 is pretty cheap.
Lots of folk are speculating that Apple is cancelling it to replace it with something else.
Possible, but I doubt it.
If they continue with the Mini, then improvements are going to come from there.
I agree that Apple is not going to replace the HomePod with anything else. The reality is that the market that comprises of smart speakers is dominated by under-$100 devices. Those in this market that are looking for "audio fidelity" sound are a very small slice of that market. It's quite telling that Apple's biggest success in the audio space is coming from AirPods / AirPods Pro and HomePod mini both which occupy the price conscious end of the spectrum. And it remains to be seen what kind of success the AirPods Max will see. Also, as others have mentioned, it doesn't help that Siri is still awful after ten years.
Price points matter. At the reveal of the HomePod, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. When they said $399 i chuckled. "yeah. no."
I do understand that there are people that have music on all day in their lives. Sound quality really matters to them. But price and money is something that drives everyone. Everyone is familiar with the "I just don't have that kind of money." Or "that's just not important to me."
But see also $1000 iPhones that sell like hotcakes. Why? Because to many, many people that solves a lot of their problems. They have it in their hand or pocket every waking moment (and while they sleep.) Easy to justify a $1000+ for that. Better sounding speakers? maybe less so.
I think there were conceptual flaws that stood out.
A 360ºC design on a product with a cable? And a not long cable at that. Placing the product in a central position position would leave the cable as a tripwire, so inevitably they were placed in non-central positions, perhaps defeating the purpose of a 360ºC design.
My only 'live' experience with one was at an Apple Store (where it was also placed on a table which was set against the wall) and the guy that was selling me a phone couldn't get it to stop playing via Siri. He ended up exasperated.
Obviously the setting wasn't perfect to evaluate audio quality but nothing about the sound stood out in any way.
Price was always a big factor, as was the debate over the 'stereo' aspect and the thought of needing two to get a better experience.
There was also the issue of flexibility in what you could pump into it, and how. This kind of product, engineered from the ground up as a wireless product, should not be erecting 'walls' as to what can be played and even as a wireless product, should have had an AUX input of some kind. When support gets axed for whatever reason, having an AUX input would keep the device going even without 'the smarts'.
The fact that they have killed it off instead of leaving it as a niche or 'hobby' product, says a lot. Sales were probably very poor but I can't help but think that the retail price was the biggest reason for that. Launching at $199 might have seen this decision never taken or even considered.
Siri seems to be an utter mess in terms of what it can do on different devices. That must be amazingly perplexing for your average user. And launching without a fully 'functioning' Siri was an error. Saying that Siri wasn't its key feature doesn't 't make a lot of sense either. Those mics are there for good reason.
Anyway those are my off the cuff comments from a person that ruled the device out for those main reasons when it was available in my area. I haven't checked to make sure what I just wrote was actually 100% correct because the asking price was never going to get in on my purchasing radar.
I think I'm not alone with that line of thinking.
It has all the conceptual clarity and aesthetic elegance of the "magic" mouse laying upside down to charge, or the most abominable remote of all time (which you'll need to be able to use the HomePod, since you need the AppleTV).
The Apple TV remote could have easily been updates long ago. But they’ve left it withering on the vine.
There does seem to be some sclerosis in product management at Apple. The current VP of hardware engineering clearly has his eye elsewhere but his lieutenants don’t seem to be empowered to make decisions about product enhancements. Not a good situation and it needs Tim’s attention.
Sclerosis is a good word to pick here. I understand the focus on Apple Silicon and some market forces right now that might be...occupying Tim's attention. But "Apple Car?" whut?
Wake me up when they can be used as TV speakers. Yawn.
What a useful post you have provided. Been able to do this for ages...
Without an an AppleTV - a product that should be retired just for its ungodly remote - just as external speakers to any old TV (as thousands of speakers can)?
Pray tell us how... I'll wait. In the meantime, you can educate yourself with this (as can the ignorant poster to whom I responded above): https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207705
Of course we can’t show you how as it cannot be done without an Apple TV. Your original post did not include the adverbial phrase “without an Apple TV”, which would have added the necessary modification to your statement.
Adding this qualification in a future post and calling people ignorant for not reading it in the original one is a little disingenuous.
But then they're not speakers for the TV, are they? THey're just speakers for the Apple TV. @anantksundaram is correct; you were just trying to say he's wrong by adding an AppleTV into the mix.
Wake me up when they can be used as TV speakers. Yawn.
What a useful post you have provided. Been able to do this for ages...
Without an an AppleTV - a product that should be retired just for its ungodly remote - just as external speakers to any old TV (as thousands of speakers can)?
Pray tell us how... I'll wait. In the meantime, you can educate yourself with this (as can the ignorant poster to whom I responded above): https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207705
Of course we can’t show you how as it cannot be done without an Apple TV. Your original post did not include the adverbial phrase “without an Apple TV”, which would have added the necessary modification to your statement.
Adding this qualification in a future post and calling people ignorant for not reading it in the original one is a little disingenuous.
Apple is reported to have sold all of 25 million AppleTVs, ever. OTOH, billions of television sets have been sold: Let's be conservative and say, one billion, i.e., 1,000 million TVs exist today in the wild.
That would imply HomePods are useless vis-a-vis 97.5% of ALL the TVs out there. So, no qualification required in the use of "TVs".
I'll stick to my characterization of ignorance. I am guessing that it is perhaps amplified by that disturbingly common unable-to-look-past-one's-nose-thanks-to-Appleitis syndrome that afflicts some in this forum.
Using your own silly method with statistics, the fact that about 97% of people with HomePods already have an Apple TV, then that ridicules your claim that "HomePods can't be used as TV speakers." They can, if you have one, since there's a 97% chance you already have an Apple TV.
Statistics are for losers. And you can't admit you lost this argument, badly. So you pull out lame stats to try to justify your mistake.
But pretty much the only people who bought home pods are apple fanatics who also have AppleTVs. The real question that you can't answer is how many more people would have bought home pods if they had better connectivity?
Hi Homepod, this is iPod Hi-Fi! Welcome to the discontinued overpriced garbage club!
It was a stupid product when it was new, it never improved, the price never dropped to anything even remotely close to reasonable, Apple discontinued it.
Why would anybody be surprised? It was a failure from minute 1.
I think that this is another stupid Jony Ive design that they are smartly trashing. He seemed to want to make stuff different for the look of it. Finally they are fixing their new designs. I can’t wait for the DED “Why HomePod was a great Success” article though.
Hi Homepod, this is iPod Hi-Fi! Welcome to the discontinued overpriced garbage club!
It was a stupid product when it was new, it never improved, the price never dropped to anything even remotely close to reasonable, Apple discontinued it.
Why would anybody be surprised? It was a failure from minute 1.
I think that this is another stupid Jony Ive design that they are smartly trashing. He seemed to want to make stuff different for the look of it. Finally they are fixing their new designs. I can’t wait for the DED “Why HomePod was a great Success” article though.
Hi Homepod, this is iPod Hi-Fi! Welcome to the discontinued overpriced garbage club!
It was a stupid product when it was new, it never improved, the price never dropped to anything even remotely close to reasonable, Apple discontinued it.
Why would anybody be surprised? It was a failure from minute 1.
I think that this is another stupid Jony Ive design that they are smartly trashing. He seemed to want to make stuff different for the look of it. Finally they are fixing their new designs. I can’t wait for the DED “Why HomePod was a great Success” article though.
Hi Homepod, this is iPod Hi-Fi! Welcome to the discontinued overpriced garbage club!
It was a stupid product when it was new, it never improved, the price never dropped to anything even remotely close to reasonable, Apple discontinued it.
Why would anybody be surprised? It was a failure from minute 1.
What an idiotic post.
The vast, vast majority of reviews proclaimed the sound quality to be incredible, and the price was actially resonable when compared to other speakers in its class with the same quality. It's not "garbage" , and Im not sure what universe the price "isn't even remotely close to reasonable". The fucking Google speaker is the same price. Apple discontinued it because it because it wasn't selling at the levels of Apple's other products (ie. astronomically high). Doesn't mean it was a "garbage" or "stupid" product.
I'm curious why you have such passionate hate towards it? What did it do to you? Pretty much everyone who cared about good sound quality and was in the Apple ecosystem loved it. Your post just sounds like a tired troll. Funny how you have to go back like 2 decades to find another discontinued product to pretend there's some kind of pattern.
He a dense person, the lack of a hardwired connection doomed the HomePod, a pair of HomePods with the XDR monitor and a desktop Mac or a iMac would have been a nice setup. (Hardwired)
The iPod Hi-Fi? Still going strong can’t get rit of it after 12-13 years sounds and works great and yes it is hardwired thank you Apple.
The lack of a hardwired connection doomed the HomePod??! Yea umm, no! You must be from the ‘90s and still think wireless is inferior. Not true today.
The real question that you can't answer is how many more people would have bought home pods if they had better connectivity?
Fair point. I don't know that. But Apple likes to push people and technologies into new and better directions. You want wired speakers, but Apple is saying the future is wireless. And it won't cater to luddites.
Wake me up when they can be used as TV speakers. Yawn.
What a useful post you have provided. Been able to do this for ages...
Without an an AppleTV - a product that should be retired just for its ungodly remote - just as external speakers to any old TV (as thousands of speakers can)?
Pray tell us how... I'll wait. In the meantime, you can educate yourself with this (as can the ignorant poster to whom I responded above): https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207705
Of course we can’t show you how as it cannot be done without an Apple TV. Your original post did not include the adverbial phrase “without an Apple TV”, which would have added the necessary modification to your statement.
Adding this qualification in a future post and calling people ignorant for not reading it in the original one is a little disingenuous.
Apple is reported to have sold all of 25 million AppleTVs, ever. OTOH, billions of television sets have been sold: Let's be conservative and say, one billion, i.e., 1,000 million TVs exist today in the wild.
That would imply HomePods are useless vis-a-vis 97.5% of ALL the TVs out there. So, no qualification required in the use of "TVs".
I'll stick to my characterization of ignorance. I am guessing that it is perhaps amplified by that disturbingly common unable-to-look-past-one's-nose-thanks-to-Appleitis syndrome that afflicts some in this forum.
Using your own silly method with statistics, the fact that about 97% of people with HomePods already have an Apple TV, then that ridicules your claim that "HomePods can't be used as TV speakers." They can, if you have one, since there's a 97% chance you already have an Apple TV.
Statistics are for losers. And you can't admit you lost this argument, badly. So you pull out lame stats to try to justify your mistake.
Wake me up when they can be used as TV speakers. Yawn.
What a useful post you have provided. Been able to do this for ages...
Without an an AppleTV - a product that should be retired just for its ungodly remote - just as external speakers to any old TV (as thousands of speakers can)?
Pray tell us how... I'll wait. In the meantime, you can educate yourself with this (as can the ignorant poster to whom I responded above): https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207705
Of course we can’t show you how as it cannot be done without an Apple TV. Your original post did not include the adverbial phrase “without an Apple TV”, which would have added the necessary modification to your statement.
Adding this qualification in a future post and calling people ignorant for not reading it in the original one is a little disingenuous.
Apple is reported to have sold all of 25 million AppleTVs, ever. OTOH, billions of television sets have been sold: Let's be conservative and say, one billion, i.e., 1,000 million TVs exist today in the wild.
That would imply HomePods are useless vis-a-vis 97.5% of ALL the TVs out there. So, no qualification required in the use of "TVs".
I'll stick to my characterization of ignorance. I am guessing that it is perhaps amplified by that disturbingly common unable-to-look-past-one's-nose-thanks-to-Appleitis syndrome that afflicts some in this forum.
Using your own silly method with statistics, the fact that about 97% of people with HomePods already have an Apple TV, then that ridicules your claim that "HomePods can't be used as TV speakers." They can, if you have one, since there's a 97% chance you already have an Apple TV.
Statistics are for losers. And you can't admit you lost this argument, badly. So you pull out lame stats to try to justify your mistake.
/looooong facepalm
Care to explain your meaningless post? I'll listen if you have anything to say.
Wake me up when they can be used as TV speakers. Yawn.
What a useful post you have provided. Been able to do this for ages...
Without an an AppleTV - a product that should be retired just for its ungodly remote - just as external speakers to any old TV (as thousands of speakers can)?
Pray tell us how... I'll wait. In the meantime, you can educate yourself with this (as can the ignorant poster to whom I responded above): https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207705
Of course we can’t show you how as it cannot be done without an Apple TV. Your original post did not include the adverbial phrase “without an Apple TV”, which would have added the necessary modification to your statement.
Adding this qualification in a future post and calling people ignorant for not reading it in the original one is a little disingenuous.
Apple is reported to have sold all of 25 million AppleTVs, ever. OTOH, billions of television sets have been sold: Let's be conservative and say, one billion, i.e., 1,000 million TVs exist today in the wild.
That would imply HomePods are useless vis-a-vis 97.5% of ALL the TVs out there. So, no qualification required in the use of "TVs".
I'll stick to my characterization of ignorance. I am guessing that it is perhaps amplified by that disturbingly common unable-to-look-past-one's-nose-thanks-to-Appleitis syndrome that afflicts some in this forum.
Using your own silly method with statistics, the fact that about 97% of people with HomePods already have an Apple TV, then that ridicules your claim that "HomePods can't be used as TV speakers." They can, if you have one, since there's a 97% chance you already have an Apple TV.
Statistics are for losers. And you can't admit you lost this argument, badly. So you pull out lame stats to try to justify your mistake.
/looooong facepalm
Care to explain your meaningless post? I'll listen if you have anything to say.
It's not my job to make your point. Learn to make an effort.
Reflect on it, lol.
Honestly, I don’t know why you’re wasting oxygen on that guy. He seems to get off on pissing off literally everybody on here. I guarantee he’s the guy who yells at the neighborhood kids when their ball lands in his yard.
It's not my job to make your point. Learn to make an effort.
Reflect on it, lol.
Honestly, I don’t know why you’re wasting oxygen on that guy. He seems to get off on pissing off literally everybody on here. I guarantee he’s the guy who yells at the neighborhood kids when their ball lands in his yard.
Honestly, don’t knock it. The first time you run out and yell at those damn kids to get off your lawn, there is a part of you that knows what it looks like, and that you are now that old geezer you used to laugh at back in the day.
the whole TV incompatibility doesn't have anything to do with wires; rather it's a compatibility issue. The only way you can use it with your TV is if you also have an Apple TV. There are many people who have apple product and may have been interested in a HomePod but who don't have an Apple TV. Well, now I can spend $700 on a pair of Home Pods that sound good but I can't use with my TV/Roku/Firestick/??? or I could get a very good sound bar that also has bluetooth and works with everything I have.
Apple may be pushing new technology, but people care about being able to use their devices in the way they want more than they care about the actual technology.
Comments
HomePods are just something I don't need. YMMV. And it is quickly becoming that way with AppleTV. I seldom use that box now, mostly because i detest that remote.
I suspect strongly that Apple's interest in sound systems is tied tightly to their efforts to sell Apple Music subscriptions. And that is becoming increasingly irrelevant too.
Yeah. This post is the stupidest thing you've done in a long time. Apple has discontinued a lot of products over the year and they still work just fine. It's not going to turn into a brick just because it's no longer manufactured.
Jesus.
I do understand that there are people that have music on all day in their lives. Sound quality really matters to them. But price and money is something that drives everyone. Everyone is familiar with the "I just don't have that kind of money." Or "that's just not important to me."
But see also $1000 iPhones that sell like hotcakes. Why? Because to many, many people that solves a lot of their problems. They have it in their hand or pocket every waking moment (and while they sleep.) Easy to justify a $1000+ for that. Better sounding speakers? maybe less so.
Sclerosis is a good word to pick here. I understand the focus on Apple Silicon and some market forces right now that might be...occupying Tim's attention. But "Apple Car?" whut?
But pretty much the only people who bought home pods are apple fanatics who also have AppleTVs. The real question that you can't answer is how many more people would have bought home pods if they had better connectivity?
Apple may be pushing new technology, but people care about being able to use their devices in the way they want more than they care about the actual technology.