Apple HomePod manufacturer Inventec warns of limited quantities available at Dec. launch
During an earnings conference call, Inventec's CEO said that Apple's HomePod would have little material impact on the company's future results as quantities of the device will probably be constrained at launch -- with other reports claiming that Foxconn will handle half of the manufacturing duties in 2018.
Speaking to investors, Inventec CEO David Ho confirmed that the HomePod would ship to Apple in the fourth fiscal quarter, with tight constraints.
"We will finally ship the smart home device this year," said Ho. "But, its [earnings] contribution will be fairly limited and hopefully that will improve next year"
After the conference call, an analyst predicted that Inventec would likely only ship 500,000 units of the HomePod in 2017. For that half-million, Inventec's revenue is predicted to only increase less than one percent.
An unnamed source within Inventec told the Nikkei Asian Review on Monday that the HomePod would in part shift to rival Foxconn in 2018 at some point -- but when specifically was not made clear.
Apple's $349 HomePod was revealed at the 2017 WWDC and will ship in December. The HomePod is powered by an Apple A8 chip featuring realtime acoustic modeling, audio beam-forming, and multi-channel echo cancelation. It features a subset of Siri, optimized for music consumption.
Speaking to investors, Inventec CEO David Ho confirmed that the HomePod would ship to Apple in the fourth fiscal quarter, with tight constraints.
"We will finally ship the smart home device this year," said Ho. "But, its [earnings] contribution will be fairly limited and hopefully that will improve next year"
After the conference call, an analyst predicted that Inventec would likely only ship 500,000 units of the HomePod in 2017. For that half-million, Inventec's revenue is predicted to only increase less than one percent.
An unnamed source within Inventec told the Nikkei Asian Review on Monday that the HomePod would in part shift to rival Foxconn in 2018 at some point -- but when specifically was not made clear.
Apple's $349 HomePod was revealed at the 2017 WWDC and will ship in December. The HomePod is powered by an Apple A8 chip featuring realtime acoustic modeling, audio beam-forming, and multi-channel echo cancelation. It features a subset of Siri, optimized for music consumption.
Comments
supposedly airplay 2 will be compatible with Apple TV 4:
"Apple has announced Airplay 2, which includes new features such as multiroom, HomeKit compatibility, and Apple TV4 integration. The new HomePod speaker will be one of the first speakers with Airplay 2 but the company also announced a handful of partners, including Bang & Olufsen and Bose."
Why do Apple have to make things so difficult to make???? Especially fot the V1 releases.
It is the very fact that it’s a v1 that makes a product more difficult to produce. Economies of scale happen after everyone is familar with the product and problems related to manufacturing.
Of the top, I can't think of a major upgrade of a product that shipped the same day or very shortly after being announced, but I know there are some.
Products with incremental upgrades were/are almost always available same day as announced.
As to how hard can it be to make a speaker... I think it should be obvious the manufacturing standards set by Apple pretty much conclude a manufacturer doing cookie cutter stamping.
Steve Jobs was known for nixing shipping because of what some would perceive as a very minor flaw in execution. I don't imagine that's changed much.
I think Apple may announce some products that aren't planned to ship yet to create buzz and not to be seen as just 'me too'.
Superficially, the HomePod makes Google Home and Amazon Echo look like a bargain. But if it preforms anywhere near promised, I'm in. I've got a Dot and I'm not too pleased. Siri has her issues but I can tolerate them.
My concern is that using two HomePods won't give you stereo sound but just two DSP enabled speakers for 'more sound' or 'spacious' sound as Apple calls it. They're emphasizing sound but I don't expect it to be more than musical competition to Google and Amazon. I see it as a better sounding, HomeKit compatible digital assistant.
Up to this point, home automation and 'the internet of things' has been an ad hoc mess of fits and starts. I think HomePod is going to play an important role in Apple's re-working of that mess into something that 'just works.' A few judiciously placed HomePods will suddenly make it possible to reliably and securely connect all those HomeKit devices, while making voice control of them possible, even without remembering where you set down your iPhone.
Steve Jobs did not invent the smartphone, but before he introduced the iPhone, there was a hodgepodge of phones, PDAs, MP3 players, point-and-shoot digital cameras, GPS devices, etc. out there, taking up pocket space and cumulatively costing their owners a lot of money. Then, by a couple of years into the iPhone, all those things became one device that just works. The wireless home automation scene right now is ripe for the same thing to happen with that, and I think HomePod is the vanguard of that realignment.
No, he didn't.
He said when you set up two they automatically work together to give incredible spacious sound that has the power to rock your house. Not the same thing. Carefully parsed, he absolutely did not say 'stereo'. At this point, it looks to me to be two mono speakers, not a left and right channel that is traditionally known as stereo.
Given the ability of AirPods to shift from mono to stereo when going from one to two AirPods, you might infer that two HomePods will provide true stereo sound (albeit with heavy digital processing) but that was not said at WWDC 2017.
Does the W1 chip give the AirPods mono/stereo switching? I've seen no mention of it being in the HomePods. Maybe all this has been clarified at some subsequent interview, but I haven't seen it.
Very few wireless speakers will mimic the AirPod true mono/stereo switching. I hope the HomePod is one (two) of them.
Two HomePods will increase the stereo separation, but only one is needed to produce stereo sound.
It could also be for the same reason the first iPhone and the Apple Watch were announced months in advance - they didn't want it leaked when it was submitted for the various regulatory approvals.
As I wasn't at the after-event, I couldn't say. But I appreciate the links. It clears up my only reservation, short of actually hearing the HomePod(s). Thanks.
Who's doing that? I missed it.
Then there's question of how you define stereo sound. I'm not into heavily-digitally process sound for the sake of special effects.
Some boom boxes were large enough that stereo reproduction could be discerned within a few feet of the box. Beyond that the signal may as well have been mono. At that point touting 'stereo' was no more than marketing ticking a box, and some schlub winning a bar bet.
Separation, aside from the above, is only part of the equation. 'Filling the room with sound' is laudable and under some circumstances, good enough. Putting a bunch of drivers in one enclosure to accomplish spatial hocus-pocus has been done before. Still not what is traditionally stereo as many of is, and I, define it.
The Beatles first stereo albums had the vocals in one channel and music in the other. Stereo? Sure, you win. A realistic representation or even approximation of a musical performance? Only if you back away from the speakers far enough, then you can approximate sitting in the cheap seats. Not that it mattered for a Beatles concert.
Good imaging, necessary to provide a realistic soundstage, is one of my top priorities. Whether or not a single HomePod can pull this off remains to be, uh, seen. The Verge article mentioned placing instruments in different locations, but that's not quite as informative as I'd like. And that's fine, really. I'm not an ultra purist and make concessions to sound quality as needed. That's my context and I'm sticking to it.
As long as I can 'see' a proper stereo soundstage with two HomePods I'll be happy. So I await critical testing and reviews.