Survey finds 1/3 of people interested in Apple's HomePod, still more likely to buy Amazon ...
Roughly a third of people in the U.S. are interested in Apple's Siri-based HomePod, though they're more likely to buy an Amazon Echo in practice, survey results suggested on Wednesday.
Of 2,200 polled adults, 33 percent said they were interested in the HomePod, according to Morning Consult. That number dipped to 30 percent after people were shown a comparison with other smartspeakers, such as the Echo and Google Home.
Among people who already owned Apple products, pre-comparison interest was 45 percent, slipping to 40 percent afterward.
Within the overall survey group 17 percent said they were mostly like to buy an Echo, and 11 percent the cheaper Echo Dot. Only 9 percent said they would go for a HomePod, below the Google Home's 11 percent.
The HomePod did fare better among existing Apple owners at 17 percent, but still ranked below the Echo's 18 percent.
Price appears to be the main concern among shoppers, since 57 percent picked it as "very important" in a smartspeaker. The HomePod will cost $349 when it launches in December -- by contrast, an Echo is currently $139.99, and an Echo Dot only $39.99, though the latter is meant to be hooked up to an external speaker.
51 percent of people said speaker quality was important, which may help Apple. The company has banked on that element in both marketing and design -- the HomePod sports a woofer, seven tweeters, and technologies such as beamforming and automatic balancing with room acoustics.
A number of questions remain about the HomePod, such as how well it will work with third-party streaming services. So far it only appears to support Apple Music -- which is missing from the Echo and Google Home, but the latter devices offer a choice of services such as Spotify, Pandora, and TuneIn.
Of 2,200 polled adults, 33 percent said they were interested in the HomePod, according to Morning Consult. That number dipped to 30 percent after people were shown a comparison with other smartspeakers, such as the Echo and Google Home.
Among people who already owned Apple products, pre-comparison interest was 45 percent, slipping to 40 percent afterward.
Within the overall survey group 17 percent said they were mostly like to buy an Echo, and 11 percent the cheaper Echo Dot. Only 9 percent said they would go for a HomePod, below the Google Home's 11 percent.
The HomePod did fare better among existing Apple owners at 17 percent, but still ranked below the Echo's 18 percent.
Price appears to be the main concern among shoppers, since 57 percent picked it as "very important" in a smartspeaker. The HomePod will cost $349 when it launches in December -- by contrast, an Echo is currently $139.99, and an Echo Dot only $39.99, though the latter is meant to be hooked up to an external speaker.
51 percent of people said speaker quality was important, which may help Apple. The company has banked on that element in both marketing and design -- the HomePod sports a woofer, seven tweeters, and technologies such as beamforming and automatic balancing with room acoustics.
A number of questions remain about the HomePod, such as how well it will work with third-party streaming services. So far it only appears to support Apple Music -- which is missing from the Echo and Google Home, but the latter devices offer a choice of services such as Spotify, Pandora, and TuneIn.
Comments
More people are likely to buy Toyotas rather than Porsches, but I'd rather own the Porsche if I can afford one. I don't see why there's a need for comparison. Two companies with different approaches to a product is just fine. I'm willing to bet Apple makes profits from HomePods rather than Amazon's break-even from selling the Echo. The only thing that if I had a HomePod, I'd prefer it to work with either Pandora or Spotify. I suppose Apple wants consumers to only use AppleMusic but that seems rather limiting. Apple can do whatever it likes and let the consumer decide whether it's worth the cost. No one is putting a gun to a consumer's head to buy Apple products.
1. If you care more about voice assistant capability then the cheaper option is of course an Echo or Google Home.
2. If audio quality is important then the HomePod is going to warrant additional looks because neither the Echo nor GH will amaze the music aficionado .
Not worries about the HomePod supporting just Apple Music. As long as it supports airplay then it's pretty easy to get other sources onto the HomePod.
Multi-room audio changes everything.
The only problem I see is if their an app that doesn't want to support Airplay and if that's the case your issue is when them ..not Apple.
Amazon will come out with a HomePod competitor at a similar price point within a year or so, probably in partnership with Bose or Harmon Kardon or somebody like that.
Harman Kardon is already partnering with Microsoft on the Invoke. It has three tweeters, three woofers, and seven microphones. I expect audio quality to be on par with the HomePod. I've seen a rumored price of $200, but even $250 wouldn't surprise me.
I don't think Amazon will release any higher quality versions of its products. They are satisfied with "good enough". What you may see is something from a company like JBL or Logitech based on their existing Bluetooth speakers that hook into Alexa for untethered listening.
Even if it's not the same as Amazon Echo, for many people it is, at least in their minds. Amazon has a huge head start in brand awareness, brand integration (how many products have you seen that say 'works with Amazon Echo?') feature development and market penetration. Apple is coming to the game very late and has a big hill to climb.