Apple's HomePod gets FCC approval, hinting at upcoming launch
Adding to evidence that the HomePod is nearing an official release, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has given its stamp of approval for the device.
The product is identified as model "A1639," and will bear its FCC markings out of sight on the bottom, according to newly-published documents. As a smartspeaker, the HomePod needs to clear the FCC because of its wireless capabilities.
Several documents -- namely guides and photo collections -- are only set to become public on July 17, likely months after the HomePod will be on shelves. A number of other documents, including schematics, will remain confidential indefinitely.
On Wednesday, the Taipei Times claimed that Apple assembly partner Inventec is beginning to roll out the first million HomePods for shipment. Inventec and a fellow assembler, Foxconn, are expected to deliver between 10 to 12 million units by the end of the year.
The speaker was originally due to launch in December, but the month prior, Apple postponed the product until "early 2018". At the time, the company said the HomePod needed "a little more time before it's ready for our customers."
Missing December allowed products by Amazon and Google to gain a critical foothold in the smartspeaker market. Apple is prioritizing audio quality over voice functions though, which could help justify the HomePod's $349 pricetag.
The product is identified as model "A1639," and will bear its FCC markings out of sight on the bottom, according to newly-published documents. As a smartspeaker, the HomePod needs to clear the FCC because of its wireless capabilities.
Several documents -- namely guides and photo collections -- are only set to become public on July 17, likely months after the HomePod will be on shelves. A number of other documents, including schematics, will remain confidential indefinitely.
On Wednesday, the Taipei Times claimed that Apple assembly partner Inventec is beginning to roll out the first million HomePods for shipment. Inventec and a fellow assembler, Foxconn, are expected to deliver between 10 to 12 million units by the end of the year.
The speaker was originally due to launch in December, but the month prior, Apple postponed the product until "early 2018". At the time, the company said the HomePod needed "a little more time before it's ready for our customers."
Missing December allowed products by Amazon and Google to gain a critical foothold in the smartspeaker market. Apple is prioritizing audio quality over voice functions though, which could help justify the HomePod's $349 pricetag.
Comments
I seem to remember when HomePod was first announced there was talk of Siri having a limited functionality on it, like it would only support some music and HomeKit commands. But on apple.com it says this on the HomePod page:
”Because it has Siri, HomePod can hear and answer questions in the most popular categories. Timers. Clocks. Measurements. Translations. News. Sports. Weather. Traffic. And general knowledge. It’s great at the things you want to know, and do, in your home.”
That doesn’t seem as limited as we were led to believe. Or am I missing something?
(I suppose the limitations could be in the form of no personal stuff, like setting reminders and no functions it won’t support like making phone calls)
Siri is the biggest knock on Cook. It's like apple is a command line (DOS) user who says "that mouse stuff will never take off". HomePod should be a financial success and will sell more in it's first year than SONOS has sold ever. I expect WWDC to have parts devoted to creating apps for siriOS. Hopefully Apple is ready to support and expand the HomePod line similar to how they have consistently improved watchOS and the watch year after year since its release.
I haven’t yet found any limitations in CarPlay. I can check sports scores, issue HomeKit commands, etc. and obviously text, call and listen to music. I’ve never tried anything while driving that would require a web search, though.
I know it’s limited on TV but for the most part those limitations make sense. Like no calls or texts. But HomeKit commands works, sports scores and weather work. I think it’s mostly the “personal” stuff like reminders and things like timers that don’t make a whole lot of sense on a TV or could be performed better on a different device that get removed.
Yes, I'm still buying the HomePod the first day it becomes available.
That is great.
My hope is that it comes with a much better Siri , but don’t expect it to. My disappointment would be lessened if Cook would announce a big investment in greatly improving Siri with a new AI center and thousands of employees. Something just to show they are in the race.
I still prefer Siri’s wiki knowledge compared to Alexa’s Leftist Communist messages.
One interpretation is "HomePod is an iPod for the home." This implies that it really is mostly about music and audio, like iPod. Sure you could do some other stuff with iPods, but those were just little extras.
On the other hand, if we didn't know what an iPod was, the name implies that it's a "pod" (whatever that is) for/in the home. In that context you really would expect a home control hub more than anything else. Then you're expecting something like the Computer in Star Trek--exactly what Google Home and Echo (without the selling-you-stuff angle) instead of a competitor to Bose or Sonos.
I would have thought that the second interpretation is the MUCH bigger market and a much more Apple-like ambition. I can picture Steve saying things like "home automation is complete garbage; it's hard to use and has limited functionality and therefore it's irrelevant in the marketplace, but Apple is changing that..." But from everything we're read, it appears that HomePod really is designed to be an iPod for the home with Siri support. I don't doubt that Apple could/can revolutionize the home audio market and make a lot of money doing so (like they did with the portable audio market), but that had better not be the end game. Perhaps they are trying to take the same path they did with the iPod and the iPhone. Create a new market for portable audio devices (iPods) and then destroy/replace that market with specialized portable computers (iPhones). The problem in this case is that two other major competitors are skipping straight to stage two, and apparently having significant success doing so (unlike the pre-iPhone smart phones).