I know Steve told Tim, "don't ask what I would do." But I can't help but think that Steve would not go for the HomePod. I don't know how many of you ever had the opportunity to listen to an iPod Hi-Fi. I have and they were amazing. Steve called it "audiophile quality," I don't know if it was quite there but I do believe if Steve was around, he would have shot down this HomePod. How much bass response can something that small have? I own a pair of UE Megabooms and I love them, but even they have a crossover that cuts off below who knows how many Hertz. So is the HomePod a speaker with Siri built-in? Or is it a Siri device with speakers built-in?
I was hoping this story was about the recent delay...
I wouldn’t mind if Apple upgrades chip to 10X, fixes Siri with VocalIQ software and adds surround lighting* during the delay. I’m really hoping an engineer is focusing on surround sound before launch. This would increase sales since it’s small size would make a kick-ass 5.1 or even stereo set up which requires more than one purchase.
Wishful thinking? I don’t know, why was a product announced in a June delayed?
*For anyone who’s not familiar with surround lighting it’s a concept no company has been able to nail. The closest I’ve seen are those Christmas projectors than fill the front yard/home with lights. The concept is so new there’s no industry name for it but “surround lighting” was the first I read back in 2006-2011. Beyond DJ lights, it can make your room look like it’s snowing, it can make movies and games more immersive, it can add themes to music and react to bass etc. Imagine a night scene in an action movie where bullets fly past the screen and you see sparks fly around you and a helicopter flashes light onto the TV and your whole room lights up in real time and accuracy. That’s a decent example. With the TrueDepth camera Apple can open this to 3rd parties and take it to the next level.
This Bloomberg article is the perfect example of trash journalism, made to garner clicks based on an anti-Apple narrative, and quoting "anonymous" employees who shit on their product and their company. Also, there is nothing abnormal about the description of this product's development. Development is never a clean, straight line and some of Apple's best, most game-changing products had messy development cycles, where the project was started, scrapped, stalled, restarted, etc. It's the final product that matters. Homepod differentiates itself enough from the Echo, in terms of both its integration with Apple's ecosystem, and sound quality.
I didn’t read the article as describing anything but normal product development, which, as you say, often involves unexpected turns, but it sounds like the end result isn’t all that different from what they originally set out to create: a high-quality speaker based on beam-forming technologies. The addition of Siri, the arrival of Echo, didn’t really change anything. And of course, as a single-purpose device, it was going to be hard for that team to build something to compete with the attention that the iPhone gets from Apple’s upper management.
If anything, it dispels the myth that it was created to counter Alexa with Siri; it was always meant to be a high fidelity speaker for enjoying music. If it doesn’t sell comparably to Echo, it’s because they aren’t in the same market (price or featurewise). But of course, that won’t stop the dozens of YouTube channels who will publish amateur “reviews” with titles like “Echo vs HomePod: The Review (Is Apple Doomed?)”
A high quality speaker is great, but not adding a functioning voice assistant (Siri) when it was hailed as a great achievement a few years ago will make this product less appealing. It would be best to get Siri running better and add those functions to the device. Apples home strategy seems muddled with underpowered devices and no hub.
My sincere hope is that the delay is in order to work out either making the HomePod a proper HomeKit hub/controller, and/or letting it hand off requests to AppleTVs. The idea of it depending upon an iOS device that might not be home does not sit well with me and seems like a poor choice, given the competition.
My sincere hope is that the delay is in order to work out either making the HomePod a proper HomeKit hub/controller, and/or letting it hand off requests to AppleTVs. The idea of it depending upon an iOS device that might not be home does not sit well with me and seems like a poor choice, given the competition.
It could be that considering the much improved audio products with assistants already shipping or soon to since Apple announced the Home Pod that they've realized they shouldn't release it as originally designed and planned. Take time instead to improve on some other features rather than rely on only the audio quality as the major marketing point. Apple may have been surprised by the swiftness of competitors responses, ie Sonos, Google Home Max, etc.
I'm just not convinced this is going to go well...
Its going to miss so many markets. Sonos, home automation etc etc.
I will get one, but to test it out. I am struggling to see how it will be useful to me when I have Sonos and have been holding off getting an Echo to try to use Siri
I fear this product will come out. Never be updated, languish and then be cancelled
I for one am in on one.. Never had high-quality speakers.. These guys easily cost upward of 5000$.. 350$ seems a bargain..
You are assuming that it will sound anywhere near as good as a $5000 speaker. More so you are assuming that you can hear the difference. Hear is the reality a $5000 speaker need really good system driving it to really become noticeably better and that system starts right with the recording. So unless Apple comes up with higher quality recordings and drives that speaker system with a high quality analog system don't expect the same sound you would get out of a high end audio system.
I fear this product will come out. Never be updated, languish and then be cancelled
This is pretty much a common mode of operation at Apple. Generally one of two things happen, they either hit the wrong price point (price a unit way too high) or totally miss what user want out of the device. The Mac Mini is a perfect example of a machine that is priced way too high for what you get and the most likely market to buy such a machine.
I cna see the product manage at Apple right now say "oh sh!t this thing isn't selling". That will be followed immediately by a plan to get out fo the division before the item is cancled. After all putting in effort to make a product successful is a lot of work, not something product managers at Apple are familiar with. If an idea isn't a a sure thing Apple doesn't have the intellectual resources to make it a success. You can already see excessive management influence on the device as they attempt to limit what can be done on the devices. Frankly this is something that could easily incorporate AppleTV functionality to reduce the number of boxes required in a home.
In a nut shell there are lots of options or ideas that could be incorporated into the device to game it more appealable. It can be made a success, it just takes initiative and understanding consumer needs.
The Echo "blindsided" the team that year, and engineers joked about each other leaking the HomePod to Amazon, according to Bloomberg. The group bought some Echos to dismantle them, but judged their sound inferior and continued on.
That’s hilarious. Where Microsoft bought PowerMac G5s to build the Xbox around and where Google just copied the iPhone software outright, Apple tears down its competitors and gets disappointed they don’t find anything worth copying.
Lame spin - the fact is they couldn't deliver anything. Big announcement - no product. For any other company it'd be considered vaporware, but for Apple - totally acceptable.
Sorry, but I doubt even Apple can't deliver a true high-fidelity experience from a little mono speaker. I'll stick with my stereo speaker with 12" woofers and true room-filling sound, no gimmicky "beamforming" required.
The Echo "blindsided" the team that year, and engineers joked about each other leaking the HomePod to Amazon, according to Bloomberg. The group bought some Echos to dismantle them, but judged their sound inferior and continued on.
That’s hilarious. Where Microsoft bought PowerMac G5s to build the Xbox around and where Google just copied the iPhone software outright, Apple tears down its competitors and gets disappointed they don’t find anything worth copying.
Now you’ve done it!
Brace yourself for the Gatorection!
Right … that was supposed to be a mashup of “Gatorguy” and “Correction”, but I forgot to read it back out loud. ߤ氟ﾦzwj;♂️
I see you really enjoy reading my posts, quite often making a pointed effort to encourage me to chime in. I'm glad you look forward to them, but in this particular thread I'm sorry to say I really don't have much to add.
Nothing to add??
But … but … he badmouthed the mothership!
Well there’s a surprise. ߘt;/div>
I bad-mouthed Google myself earlier today. Surprised you didn't take note of it. Maybe some members here just see what they want to see?
I know Steve told Tim, "don't ask what I would do." But I can't help but think that Steve would not go for the HomePod. I don't know how many of you ever had the opportunity to listen to an iPod Hi-Fi. I have and they were amazing. Steve called it "audiophile quality," I don't know if it was quite there but I do believe if Steve was around, he would have shot down this HomePod. How much bass response can something that small have? I own a pair of UE Megabooms and I love them, but even they have a crossover that cuts off below who knows how many Hertz. So is the HomePod a speaker with Siri built-in? Or is it a Siri device with speakers built-in?
Isn’t the hole in the centre basically a bass cannon firing at the surface it’s sitting on? as long as you don’t sit it on something soft it could be really good.
The Echo "blindsided" the team that year, and engineers joked about each other leaking the HomePod to Amazon, according to Bloomberg. The group bought some Echos to dismantle them, but judged their sound inferior and continued on.
That’s hilarious. Where Microsoft bought PowerMac G5s to build the Xbox around and where Google just copied the iPhone software outright, Apple tears down its competitors and gets disappointed they don’t find anything worth copying.
Now you’ve done it!
Brace yourself for the Gatorection!
Right … that was supposed to be a mashup of “Gatorguy” and “Correction”, but I forgot to read it back out loud. ߤ氟ﾦzwj;♂️
I see you really enjoy reading my posts, quite often making a pointed effort to encourage me to chime in. I'm glad you look forward to them, but in this particular thread I'm sorry to say I really don't have much to add.
Nothing to add??
But … but … he badmouthed the mothership!
Well there’s a surprise. ߘt;/div>
I bad-mouthed Google myself earlier today. Surprised you didn't take note of it. Maybe some members here just see what they want to see?
Comments
Feb 2018 HomePod $349
Sept 2018 HomePod mini $199
Sept 2019 HomePod nano $99
I wouldn’t mind if Apple upgrades chip to 10X, fixes Siri with VocalIQ software and adds surround lighting* during the delay. I’m really hoping an engineer is focusing on surround sound before launch. This would increase sales since it’s small size would make a kick-ass 5.1 or even stereo set up which requires more than one purchase.
Wishful thinking? I don’t know, why was a product announced in a June delayed?
*For anyone who’s not familiar with surround lighting it’s a concept no company has been able to nail. The closest I’ve seen are those Christmas projectors than fill the front yard/home with lights. The concept is so new there’s no industry name for it but “surround lighting” was the first I read back in 2006-2011. Beyond DJ lights, it can make your room look like it’s snowing, it can make movies and games more immersive, it can add themes to music and react to bass etc.
Imagine a night scene in an action movie where bullets fly past the screen and you see sparks fly around you and a helicopter flashes light onto the TV and your whole room lights up in real time and accuracy. That’s a decent example.
With the TrueDepth camera Apple can open this to 3rd parties and take it to the next level.
the same one who reported Apple lower quality of FaceID just to be able to produce it this year, which Apple outrightly denied.
So I’m supposed to trust you again???
If anything, it dispels the myth that it was created to counter Alexa with Siri; it was always meant to be a high fidelity speaker for enjoying music. If it doesn’t sell comparably to Echo, it’s because they aren’t in the same market (price or featurewise). But of course, that won’t stop the dozens of YouTube channels who will publish amateur “reviews” with titles like “Echo vs HomePod: The Review (Is Apple Doomed?)”
if the device truly is a fidelity game changer I could see a co-released pro tier for Apple Music
Its going to miss so many markets. Sonos, home automation etc etc.
I will get one, but to test it out. I am struggling to see how it will be useful to me when I have Sonos and have been holding off getting an Echo to try to use Siri
I fear this product will come out. Never be updated, languish and then be cancelled
I cna see the product manage at Apple right now say "oh sh!t this thing isn't selling". That will be followed immediately by a plan to get out fo the division before the item is cancled. After all putting in effort to make a product successful is a lot of work, not something product managers at Apple are familiar with. If an idea isn't a a sure thing Apple doesn't have the intellectual resources to make it a success. You can already see excessive management influence on the device as they attempt to limit what can be done on the devices. Frankly this is something that could easily incorporate AppleTV functionality to reduce the number of boxes required in a home.
In a nut shell there are lots of options or ideas that could be incorporated into the device to game it more appealable. It can be made a success, it just takes initiative and understanding consumer needs.
Sorry, but I doubt even Apple can't deliver a true high-fidelity experience from a little mono speaker. I'll stick with my stereo speaker with 12" woofers and true room-filling sound, no gimmicky "beamforming" required.
as long as you don’t sit it on something soft it could be really good.