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.
Exactly! I can't imagine why anybody would have purchased one to begin with. To me it was a spy tool that people willingly paid a massive mark up on.
Wizard, the "always on listening" remains on your local device unless the AI (Google or Apple, doesn't matter) "hears" the keyword for activation. The companies are not listening, only your local device is.
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.
Anyone else?!
When I got my second HomePod I tried setting them up with my Apple TV to replace my Vizio soundbar. Terrible for the TV experience. In the process i discovered my $115 2.1 sound-bar sounds much better with music than my HomePods do.
So.. they’ll keep calling it HomePod “Mini”? Or maybe HomePod 2: Son of HomePod? So weird for the inferior device to become the only option.
I’m bummed but I’ll admit, I only bought my HomePod on heavy discount.. Apple dropped the price to $199 for a month or so and I scored an open box at BestBuy for $187. When I got home and tried it out I loved it so much I rushed out and bought a second one. Stereo pair with these things is greater than the sum of its parts. Mind blowing sound for its size. For my setup in my smoking lounge I use my iPhone and iPads to watch stuff and listen to Apple Music so it was perfect and the reduced clutter was awesome. It’s a shame Apple couldn’t come out with a wireless version of the REAL HomePod and call it HomePod 2. HomePod Mini is great for my white noise machine for naps to mask noise from outside my bedroom but using one to play music in my game room was lackluster. Not loud enough and bass is super weak. I’ll be buying one last HomePod to round out my setup but super bummed Apple threw in the towel before my 2 year AppleCare was even up.
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.
Lol. Troll. Seeing as it lasted a most 4 years I don’t think that constitutes a failed product.
It is awesome and I just went and bought a second to go with my first, which is a great device. I also have a single HomePod mini which is ok but has nowhere near the sound quality.
Hopefully they come out with a HP 2
Apple has the cash to keep failed products on the market basically forever if they want. Look at the trash can Mac Pro, it was a failed product out the door. They did nothing afterward to properly focus the concept on a market segment that might have found the unit useful. Believe me the trash can was not a bad concept and would have made an excellent desktop machine at the right price point. In fact they could leverage some of the technical developments in that machine to make an excellent Apple Silicon based machine. The problem with Apple is not realizing where the market demand is, and it isn't for $6000 rack mount machines that are out performed by $1500 AMD based desktops.
Frankly I'm not in the market for anything so harshly tied to the Apple Eco System. The simple fact is I need hardware that isn't spy ware and can work with a variety of equipment. In their current forms I can't ever see buying any of Apples HP's! Garbage.
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.
Actually your response was idiotic and represents a niche that is slowly in decline. That niche is the group of people that buy whatever Apple offers up no matter how ill conceived or overpriced, it is.
The product was garbage on day one and I really think the rest of the world said that on day one! consider:
1. Grossly over priced for what it is.
2. It is a 24/7 spying device that you willingly place in your home.
3. It doesn't work well if at all with other stuff in your home.
4. To get stereo operation you need to buy another grossly over priced device.
This isn't trolling or hate so get your head screwed on straight! Rather it is a rational evaluation of a consumer product based on experience with consumer products over several decades. It always amazes me how sheep respond with accusations of hate or trolling when presented with rational thoughts on a product. Home Pods are a gigantic rip off and a massive security risk, no rational person would have purchased them.
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...
Fair point - when you change the conditions of your statement, the response is indeed wrong.
No condition was changed. Basic reading comprehension - or in its absence, seeking clarification - was assumed.
On its face all your original statement said was being able to use them as TV speakers. You since clarified, aka changed, that statement to add that it needed to be without the Apple TV which also gave you the chance to add your negative comments about that device as well. I’d say yeah, you changed the conditions.
I'm glad you said that. I doubt that anyone will come to his defense. It's a common mistake that people make in these forums, which is not understanding that you can use HomePods as TV speakers. Maybe he knew that you could, but was just playing word games to make it sound worse than it is. I think that's what happened. In short, I don't think he's stupid, but rather deceptive.
Lol. @MplsP already did it. And I re-read the entire thread to be sure of what was going on. And guess what? Anantksundaram was absolutely spot on with his comments in this debate from the beginning. And you have reading comprehension issues. Anyone reading this thread from the beginning will come to the same conclusion.
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.
Exactly! I can't imagine why anybody would have purchased one to begin with. To me it was a spy tool that people willingly paid a massive mark up on.
Wizard, the "always on listening" remains on your local device unless the AI (Google or Apple, doesn't matter) "hears" the keyword for activation. The companies are not listening, only your local device is.
You don't know that for sure and frankly some of the reported issues with such devices pretty solidily disagrees with you. Beyond that it doesn't mean that third parties can't hack into the device to accomplish their goals. So tell me how can you be absolutely sure at any point in time the device isn't being used to spy on you? Even cell phones are not completely secure from such spying.
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.
Lol. Troll. Seeing as it lasted a most 4 years I don’t think that constitutes a failed product.
It is awesome and I just went and bought a second to go with my first, which is a great device. I also have a single HomePod mini which is ok but has nowhere near the sound quality.
Hopefully they come out with a HP 2
Apple has the cash to keep failed products on the market basically forever if they want. Look at the trash can Mac Pro, it was a failed product out the door. They did nothing afterward to properly focus the concept on a market segment that might have found the unit useful. Believe me the trash can was not a bad concept and would have made an excellent desktop machine at the right price point. In fact they could leverage some of the technical developments in that machine to make an excellent Apple Silicon based machine. The problem with Apple is not realizing where the market demand is, and it isn't for $6000 rack mount machines that are out performed by $1500 AMD based desktops.
Frankly I'm not in the market for anything so harshly tied to the Apple Eco System. The simple fact is I need hardware that isn't spy ware and can work with a variety of equipment. In their current forms I can't ever see buying any of Apples HP's! Garbage.
Apple also has the cash to improve struggling products and make them successful, provided the have the will and focus. What does it tell you about Apple that they left the HomePod (not to mention the trashcan MacPro and a few other products) to languish for four years on the shelves? I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about that, but it ain’t a good story. They sure aren’t “firing on all cylinders” anymore.
It was an average product that didn’t excel at anything. I’m guessing 99% of those who thought it was great sounding have never set foot in a hifi shop or listened to anything else. It may have been a step up for a few folks here - but It was far from premium. Far.
Let’s face the facts - Apple got greedy and only allowed this thing to really work with Apple Music. They walled themselves in and nobody bought it. If they leave it proprietary for the HP Mini - nobody is going to buy that either. They won’t even be able to give them away for free.
With the new Sonos eating Apples lunch in every way - this decision just made sense.
This has been a most interesting thread to read and I don't want to leave people with misconceptions about my position. First off I would welcome Apple into the high end audio equipment industry as they have been the one company most responsible for years of sub par equipment being considered mainstream. The advent of MP3 players with sub par sound quality really lead to industry taking focus off of hardware that could produce decent sound and instead focused on the MP3 generation that didn't know any better. It would be great if Apple could undo some of the damage it created in the audio industry and making high fidelity components would have been a good start.
Unfortunately for us Apple took an approach with Home Pod that was so ignorant of the high fidelity market that I have to wonder if anybody working there has a clue. For one the market demands inter interoperability!!!! You can succeed with hardware that doesn't have standard interfaces that work with hardware from other suppliers.
The second issue is that the hardware you supply to this market must be usable for decades and repairable. It isn't uncommon for an amplifier to be recapped several times along with other repairs because they are an investment not a irrational purchase. Plus (I know this will shock Apple management) repair is good for the environment. It is not uncommon for quality gear to remain in service for 20-30 years or more. Personally I have a Marantz receiver, that I purchased when I was 15, that still works even if it needs some work (I'm 60 now). Frankly Apples hostility towards repair is counter to what is expected from the users. Honestly are people even going to be able to get a Home Pod repaired next year or in 5, be that DIY or at a qualified shop?
RF communications, Bluetooth and the like, has its place but the tech is a pretty poor replacement for wired connections. You need multiple channels of input and frankly some of those should be old fashion analog (yes RCA connections). Nothing made for the high end world should require that people throw out tons of working equipment, even if that is just a TV. Wired is just reliable, Bluetooth can be hit or miss even with Apples products, I have not been impressed at all with my IPhone nor other Bluetooth hardware that I've had. It is great when it works, not so great when you can't get stuff to pair.
If Apple was smart they would offer up some old fashion speakers and a separate amplifier unit, maybe even a full receiver. The fact of the matter is that both AM and FM are still popular and frankly one of the better ways to remain connected to the local community, so yeah lets make it a receiver with AM & FM capability which these days is a trivial cost anyways. I mean really many
WiFi chips have FM built right in. I'm not sure why Apple has such an ignorant view of broadcast, I can listen to the local college station and actually hear about music that I might actually buy from them. Plus broadcast eliminates bandwidth usage. In any even lets imagine that Apple offers up a really nice receiver of say 75 watts per channel capable of 7.1(2). They do a credible job and it can be called hi fidelity, it will not be cheap. For example something similar to a Marantz SR5015 will set you back (list price) $1200; however you get much much more than Home Pod can offer, you don't have to throw out everything you invested in and it can have Apple tech built in. Make sure it can be supported and you have an interesting product that actually might appeal to a certain range of buyers.
I also realize that the hi fi world isn't a massive market like Apple would prefer but maybe they can grow out of their stubbornness and realize that some products don't need to move in the millions to be called a success. Even Sony was able to navigate this marketing problem over the years with products from Walkman to really good hi fi gear. All apple needs to do is to avoid the really high end marketing BS that some in this industry has adopted. Sell an honest product, that will be serviceable for at least 20 years and performs well. That isn't a lot to ask really. Oh an by the way yes I know that the speakers would be extra but even here the buyer is already likely to have speakers and if he doesn't will not be adverse to buying a set that will likely last decades.
In the end it isn't hard for Apple to figure out what people want these days. The forums are full of opinions, products specs for existing devices are at your finger tips and they could ask me. Nobody really wants a HomePod it is just a silly product for people easily swayed by Apple reality distortion field.
I now have two stereo pairs (one stand alone and the other hooked to an TV) and I love them. The latest software updates have worked well (actually better than "well" they represent Aoole's magic sauce in terms of pairing and fidelity).
There is no comparison to the HomePod mini in terms of sound quality. The only way I would consider a mini is if also had a battery and could be used as a travel/beach speaker (like JBL's great lineup of bluetooth speakers).
All that said I purchased all of mine at less than $200 each when they would go on sale in the US. At that price they are a true bargain considering the very high fidelity of the speakers in HomePods, and well worth the double the price of the $99 HomePod Mini - IMHO.
It’s always surprised me that Apple doesn’t seem to be interested much in trading off some of its hardware costs by trying to pull through services. The HomePod probably cost a bit to develop so the hardware costs were high. They should have offered some more significant bundling of Apple Music subscriptions with the purchase of a HomePod.
Apple is doing a little of the pull through by throwing some services like gaming or TV+ when you buy hardware, but it seems at best a half hearted effort. The HomePod should have been a loss leader to pull through Apple Music.
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...
Fair point - when you change the conditions of your statement, the response is indeed wrong.
No condition was changed. Basic reading comprehension - or in its absence, seeking clarification - was assumed.
On its face all your original statement said was being able to use them as TV speakers. You since clarified, aka changed, that statement to add that it needed to be without the Apple TV which also gave you the chance to add your negative comments about that device as well. I’d say yeah, you changed the conditions.
I'm glad you said that. I doubt that anyone will come to his defense. It's a common mistake that people make in these forums, which is not understanding that you can use HomePods as TV speakers. Maybe he knew that you could, but was just playing word games to make it sound worse than it is. I think that's what happened. In short, I don't think he's stupid, but rather deceptive.
Lol. @MplsP already did it. And I re-read the entire thread to be sure of what was going on. And guess what? Anantksundaram was absolutely spot on with his comments in this debate from the beginning. And you have reading comprehension issues. Anyone reading this thread from the beginning will come to the same conclusion.
I really want to know: Can you hook a HomePod speaker to a TV without use of an AppleTV? I think (think) the answer is no. So if I want to watch OTA TV on my TV, theres no way to listen to that in the room with a HomePod, right? AppleTV doesn't have a tuner for OTA. Or is it the TV I am using has to support AirPlay2?
It’s always surprised me that Apple doesn’t seem to be interested much in trading off some of its hardware costs by trying to pull through services. The HomePod probably cost a bit to develop so the hardware costs were high. They should have offered some more significant bundling of Apple Music subscriptions with the purchase of a HomePod.
Apple is doing a little of the pull through by throwing some services like gaming or TV+ when you buy hardware, but it seems at best a half hearted effort. The HomePod should have been a loss leader to pull through Apple Music.
I did sort of expect some bundling. I might have considered buying a HomePod (or even the mini) if it came with a lifetime of Apple Music *on that device* for free. But no, that's not ever happening.
It’s always surprised me that Apple doesn’t seem to be interested much in trading off some of its hardware costs by trying to pull through services. The HomePod probably cost a bit to develop so the hardware costs were high. They should have offered some more significant bundling of Apple Music subscriptions with the purchase of a HomePod.
Apple is doing a little of the pull through by throwing some services like gaming or TV+ when you buy hardware, but it seems at best a half hearted effort. The HomePod should have been a loss leader to pull through Apple Music.
I did sort of expect some bundling. I might have considered buying a HomePod (or even the mini) if it came with a lifetime of Apple Music *on that device* for free. But no, that's not ever happening.
Something along that line would not be unreasonable. Perhaps not lifetime, but at least 2 years with a subsidized rate after that. The fact that you can't use a HomePod as a simple Bluetooth speaker provides additional rationale for bundling HomePod with Apple TV. All of my TV sound bars support Bluetooth streaming, and most Amazon Echo devices support Bluetooth and Apple Music. In fact, since I have so many Echo devices compared to a single HomePod, the majority of my open-air Apple Music consumption is via Echo devices. Apple allowing Apple Music on Amazon devices was a big time positive move for me.
Don't get me wrong, I do like the HomePod a lot. The fact that I only purchased one is because my use cases don't compel me to buy any more. My main Mac is connected to some quality wired speakers and a massive sub-woofer, my Mac mini is connected to an AV receiver with 5.1 and very decent (Kef) home theater speakers, and my main PC is connected to a 4K TV with sound bar and sub-woofer. I have numerous Echos for home automation, intercoms, security camera monitoring, and lo-fi music and talk radio listening. The Echo Studio I got as a gift actually sounds quite decent, not up to HomePod, but not bad at all. I love the new spherical Dot with clock. I gave up a couple of years ago waiting for Apple (and its partners) to deliver a critical mass of HomeKit gear and have had zero issues with a mix of Z-Wave Plus and WiFi devices.
I have no negative feelings about Apple discontinuing the HomePod as long as the one I own keeps working. It was and still is a nice audio device. Apple probably learned a good bit from having developed it and some of the technology will undoubtedly be incorporated into other Apple products. Apple's marketing of the HomePod is what doomed it, not the engineering, the technology, or the quality. From a 4 Ps marketing perspective the Product part was pretty good. Where it fell short was on all the other Ps, including Price, Place, and Promotion. I believe they could have mitigated some of the Price issues with bundling promotions and improved some of the place issues with Bluetooth support and of course a lower price to make it more attractive outside of the walled garden.
Yes, we all get to play armchair quarterback and that's my version, which can jump in the pool alongside everyone else's version. I hope the takeaway for the Apple folks is that they still have to earn their place in the markets they go after, no matter how big or small those markets may be. They have tremendous brand equity and some amazing engineers, but they still have to get the fundamentals right, and every so often try to wow us with a big ol' helping of "bang for the buck" product, like what we're seeing with the M1 Macs. Boutiques have their place, but not every product has to be targeting that demographic.
So the few hundred people that bought a HomePod are disappointed. Don't feel sorry for them at all. HomePod was a failure from day one. It featured a four-year old A8 CPU that was discontinued by Apple three years earlier in 2015. Left over parts, and then charged a premium. That would be your first clue. Second, it could not support stereo sound for six months, yet Apple claimed they were reinventing music in the home. No one listens to mono music. Stereo sound then required a $700 investment. Receivers and speakers can be half that price, sound a million times better, and allow you to listen to anything you want. Siri AI after 10 years is still the worst on the market. Period. Every tech review agrees that Siri is awful, in all of its forms, which is different in every Apple product. It is severely limited. No bluetooth, no audio out, no audio in, Apple Music only, no tone control - cannot even adjust bass or treble for better sound, and the sound quality is highly subjective as most agree it is far too boomy and you cannot adjust it. Apple's solution for other music sources...use another device to play music to it via AirPlay. Then what is the point? Might as well play music to another stereo that everyone already owned. They designed it to sell Apple Music Subscriptions and it flopped.
When Apple suddenly drops a product, they don't support it for long, especially when they cut off support for the A8 two years ago. Remember the original iPad? Apple intentionally cut it off at 5.1.1, when the iPhone 4 with the same CPU could run 7.1.2. HomePad lacks the hardware for new features. Won't ever happen. The original HomePod will soon be a brick and Apple's solution will be to only use it as an AirPlay speaker. Sorry, but that is the reality. And no, they have no value. Apple and retailers could not even sell any at clearance for $199. Everyone else does it better, and for less. Apple placed too many restrictions on it, and overpriced it. It will be in a grave with iPod Hi-Fi, a speaker that had a remote that did not even allow you to choose music from the iPod. You had to get up and manually pick music from the iPod because the remote only supported play, pause, skip, and volume. Just because HomePod sat on the price list for 3 years, doesn't mean people bought it. When it was finally released, after months of delays, it never sold out of stock, ever.
What about the rumors of the second HomePod? I was going to buy that when it came out.
Maybe you can buy the first one at fire sale prices. It would be worth buying for $50.
(And by that I mean $50 for a pair. $50 for one is far too much.)
I am hoping that you are joking. In case you aren't, the discontinued Google Home Max costs $160 refurbished. No way the HomePod is going to be anywhere near that cheap.
Retailers have tried blowing out extra HomePods for $199 multiple times. No one buys them. Apple knocked $50 off the price, still no one buys them. That is why they are discontinued.
What can you say? 175 comment in no-time and the engagement in this thread is hilarious I have four HomePods and they are the best speakers I ever had, considering size and sound. "but they are overpriced!" everyone says, well depending on what you want in a speaker they might not be. And by the way, when have Apple ever made a "not overpriced" product? And we buy them anyway. And love them. Or hate them. No matter which side you are on, the sure stir up some feelings...
Anyway, I love my HomePods, and when I got the first pair my wife said "They look great and they actually understand what I mean and do what I say" that is a winner.... Oh, they only play Apple Music? Darn, there goes another 10 dollars a month... Well, I don't gamle and I don't smoke, I don't buy expensive coffee and I don't stop for an aaccational burger because I felt a little hungry. There you have your 10 dollars x 4.... I hope I will get the other 3 I ordered tonight because there will be no sale. There will not be enough for those who wants them because Apple know what they are doing. It's not Samsung we are talking about.
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.
Bloggers and journalists are paid to say that, when in reality the sound quality was far too boomy and no way to adjust it. A bunch of clueless millennials that have no idea what good speakers sound like. Apple is so arrogant that they do not even include bass or treble controls in the software. Anyone buying a speaker under that premise is an idiot. The price was excessive compared to other speakers that offered a ton more features, let you listen to whatever you want, and control the quality of the sound. It was garbage. Siri is garbage. It ran on a four year old processor that Apple stopped using three years earlier. Apple dropped it because it was a sales disaster. Retailers could not blow them out for $199. It was never out of stock, even on day one of release. Sorry, but people that care about sound quality, do not listen to heavily compressed Apple Music at 256Kbps. His comparison to the iPod Hi-Fi is dead on accurate. Apple claimed how great it was for the iPod, yet the remote did not even allow you to choose what music you wanted to listen to. All you could do with the remote was play, pause, volume, and skip. The HomePod was heavily restricted. No bluetooth, no audio in, no audio out, Apple Music only, no stereo sound for six months, no way to control the sound quality, and you had to use other devices if you wanted to hear anything other than Apple Music. Sorry you don't seem to get it, but the HomePod was a joke, just like the iPod Hi-Fi. But I guess you are cool because you have to use the F word in your comment.
Comments
You don't know that for sure and frankly some of the reported issues with such devices pretty solidily disagrees with you. Beyond that it doesn't mean that third parties can't hack into the device to accomplish their goals. So tell me how can you be absolutely sure at any point in time the device isn't being used to spy on you? Even cell phones are not completely secure from such spying.
There is no comparison to the HomePod mini in terms of sound quality. The only way I would consider a mini is if also had a battery and could be used as a travel/beach speaker (like JBL's great lineup of bluetooth speakers).
All that said I purchased all of mine at less than $200 each when they would go on sale in the US. At that price they are a true bargain considering the very high fidelity of the speakers in HomePods, and well worth the double the price of the $99 HomePod Mini - IMHO.
I did sort of expect some bundling. I might have considered buying a HomePod (or even the mini) if it came with a lifetime of Apple Music *on that device* for free. But no, that's not ever happening.
Don't get me wrong, I do like the HomePod a lot. The fact that I only purchased one is because my use cases don't compel me to buy any more. My main Mac is connected to some quality wired speakers and a massive sub-woofer, my Mac mini is connected to an AV receiver with 5.1 and very decent (Kef) home theater speakers, and my main PC is connected to a 4K TV with sound bar and sub-woofer. I have numerous Echos for home automation, intercoms, security camera monitoring, and lo-fi music and talk radio listening. The Echo Studio I got as a gift actually sounds quite decent, not up to HomePod, but not bad at all. I love the new spherical Dot with clock. I gave up a couple of years ago waiting for Apple (and its partners) to deliver a critical mass of HomeKit gear and have had zero issues with a mix of Z-Wave Plus and WiFi devices.
I have no negative feelings about Apple discontinuing the HomePod as long as the one I own keeps working. It was and still is a nice audio device. Apple probably learned a good bit from having developed it and some of the technology will undoubtedly be incorporated into other Apple products. Apple's marketing of the HomePod is what doomed it, not the engineering, the technology, or the quality. From a 4 Ps marketing perspective the Product part was pretty good. Where it fell short was on all the other Ps, including Price, Place, and Promotion. I believe they could have mitigated some of the Price issues with bundling promotions and improved some of the place issues with Bluetooth support and of course a lower price to make it more attractive outside of the walled garden.
Yes, we all get to play armchair quarterback and that's my version, which can jump in the pool alongside everyone else's version. I hope the takeaway for the Apple folks is that they still have to earn their place in the markets they go after, no matter how big or small those markets may be. They have tremendous brand equity and some amazing engineers, but they still have to get the fundamentals right, and every so often try to wow us with a big ol' helping of "bang for the buck" product, like what we're seeing with the M1 Macs. Boutiques have their place, but not every product has to be targeting that demographic.
When Apple suddenly drops a product, they don't support it for long, especially when they cut off support for the A8 two years ago. Remember the original iPad? Apple intentionally cut it off at 5.1.1, when the iPhone 4 with the same CPU could run 7.1.2. HomePad lacks the hardware for new features. Won't ever happen. The original HomePod will soon be a brick and Apple's solution will be to only use it as an AirPlay speaker. Sorry, but that is the reality. And no, they have no value. Apple and retailers could not even sell any at clearance for $199. Everyone else does it better, and for less. Apple placed too many restrictions on it, and overpriced it. It will be in a grave with iPod Hi-Fi, a speaker that had a remote that did not even allow you to choose music from the iPod. You had to get up and manually pick music from the iPod because the remote only supported play, pause, skip, and volume. Just because HomePod sat on the price list for 3 years, doesn't mean people bought it. When it was finally released, after months of delays, it never sold out of stock, ever.
Two HomePods does not make a 'home theater'. 2-channel stereo is not a home theater. You have no idea what home theater is.
Retailers have tried blowing out extra HomePods for $199 multiple times. No one buys them. Apple knocked $50 off the price, still no one buys them. That is why they are discontinued.
Anyway, I love my HomePods, and when I got the first pair my wife said "They look great and they actually understand what I mean and do what I say" that is a winner.... Oh, they only play Apple Music? Darn, there goes another 10 dollars a month... Well, I don't gamle and I don't smoke, I don't buy expensive coffee and I don't stop for an aaccational burger because I felt a little hungry. There you have your 10 dollars x 4.... I hope I will get the other 3 I ordered tonight because there will be no sale. There will not be enough for those who wants them because Apple know what they are doing. It's not Samsung we are talking about.