Apple's first HomePod ads urge customers to 'order now'

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Comments

  • Reply 81 of 113
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    aegean said:
    Nice ads. I know what message is Apple trying to convey but surely can be a lot better with better tracks ;-). Distortion and Bass were the only good ones. As far as animation goes, they are good but again can be a lot better.
    This is Apple's wheelhouse. They know which customers can afford HomePod, would be interested in HomePod, and what music they listen. I have no reason to believe they made a mistake with their song choices for these teaser ads.
    cornchip
  • Reply 82 of 113
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    wigby said:
    eightzero said:
    I wonder if Angie will put sound rooms in Apple Stores? Because having one of these sitting out on a shelf in a crowded store isn't going to help them sell.

    I remember stereo stores where all the components could be compared. Select a set of components in a separate room from a huge stack. Guess those days are gone. 

    Anyone know if these have like a 30-90 days money back promise? Take it home and see if it is worth the $350, and if not, get a refund?

    I was initially thinking we'd eventually see bundles or Apple throwing in a free AM subscription. But Apple will never admit a failure, so this seems unlikely.
    Why would they create a sound room? The whole point of HomePod is to fill whatever space you have with sound. So the better demo would be to put HomePod anywhere and let people hear it from the other side of the store. But I'm sure they'll have someone standing by the live HomePod to make sure the kids don't turn it up to 11.

    I was hoping for a AM bundle too. It would make sense and not cost them a dime. Most people I know interested in HomePod already use Pandora or Spotify so they will be disappointed if/when they bring HomePod home and realize they can't make it play music via Siri right out of the box. But I also understand Apple's point. Why would they admit failure for a product that hasn't even shipped yet? If sales are slower than expected, we can expect a HomePod holiday bundle with AM 3 month trial by end of year.
    I think it's coming with a three-month free subscription to Apple Music from the get-go. 
  • Reply 83 of 113
    Does anyone at Apple know what good music is?
    I'm sure that there is no one else on Earth who is better qualified than you to determine what good music is.
    SolifastasleepdewmecornchipRayz2016
  • Reply 84 of 113
    I think these speakers will be good. But I have little doubt that versions 2 or 3 will be even better. Speakers are a long-term purchase for me (my house currently overflows with previously used ones, not counting those that I have given away to friends or neighbors).

    I’ll wait to see how the stereo sound pans out, and whether there may be a serious subwoofer that comes as part of the package, with the same type of functionality, in the future.
  • Reply 85 of 113
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    rain22 said:
    And just like Apple TV - as soon as this thing is hacked to actually make it useful - it might sell a few units. 
    Severely limiting its capabilities to Apple Music only - well, it doesn’t matter how good it sounds if it can’t play anything from 95% of the worldwide market.

    And seriously??? suddenly - everyone who is going to own this little Chinese made pod - HAS A $50,000 AUDIOPHILE SYSTEM!!!
    Those claims are just so far removed from any sense of reality - it could only exist on this forum. 

    And before you fanboi’s start believing that Apple invented audio beamforming (and it only exists in 50k systems), you could buy a $50 microphone 20 years ago that does the exact same thing. 
    So congratulations, Apple caught up to 1998 technology. Woo

    Now this thing might sound good - lots of advancements have been made in small speaker tech, but try and not embarrass Apple or Appleinsider or anyone with a brain - that this thing is going to have audiophiles tossing their gear, and HIFI companies going out of business all over the globe because Apple just made a pod with $12 worth of speakers - that rivals $50,000 systems.

    Your excited for a new product... great. But at least try and have some perspective based in reality. 

    This thing isn’t a game-changer. I’m sorry. But it’s not. It’s old audio technology with a voice assistant - limited to 1 audio source. 
    I’m sure it will find a niche market, just like Apple TV. 



    Right... Another one who builds a fracking straw man. Go away.
  • Reply 86 of 113
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  • Reply 87 of 113
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    mercel said:
    Some reviews have said this $350 speaker sounds better than a pair of $1,000 speakers.   
    Even if it doesn't, it still wouldn't determine if it's "DOA" since the market favors heavily towards convenience. I don't think anyone would claim that 128-bit AAC audio is better than the AIFF files you get with a CD, and yet Apple was able to profoundly change that market (or at least change it at a much faster rate than would've happened without their HW, SW, and ecosystem).

    The same can likely be said for Apple's AirPods. There are probably BT headphones out there with better sound at a lower price, and surely wired headphones with better sound at a lower price, but the W-series chip and their SW to make pairing and switching headphones is a huge convenience for consumers.

    I don't think HomePod will be any different, especially when looking at the wireless speakers Apple sells in their stores. While the SW will have to evolve for HomePod, that's a short-term issue and people should simply not buy it if it's missing a "must have" feature (like Blackberry users needing Exchange email or cut/copy/paste). Even if we could an absolutely statement that showed that two Sonos One speakers ($3490 would sound better than a single HomePod ($349) for some theoretically typical setup, the number of steps to setup two Sonos One in terms of HW and SW over setting up one HomePod (i.e.: convenience) will play a big role.

    Apple has earned a lot of user's trust over the years, and there's something to say about the convenience of being able to bring in a malfunctioning HomePod into an Apple Store v having to contact some other company via the phone, email, or chat, fill out some return form to get an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization), which will let you package up your own device to ship back for inspection, service, and replacement. Of course, for many there are no nearby Apple Stores and they'll still have to do shipping, so that's a null convenience (or perhaps bringing a product into an Apple Store is more of an inconvenience), but for most people it seems to add value.
    eightzero
  • Reply 88 of 113
    anomeanome Posts: 1,533member
    mercel said:
     petri said:
    DOA.
    Uh huh.  Sure, like iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, AirPods....blah blah blah.

    This thing will sell better than most people think.  Some reviews have said this $350 speaker sounds better than a pair of $1,000 speakers.   

    "Apple is DOOOMED, I say! DOOOOOMED!"

    I'm sure this will somehow get labelled a failure, even if it ships more than any of its competitors, and generates more revenue than any non-Apple device. In reality, I expect it won't manage that, but that it will sell in sufficient quantities for Apple to keep selling them, and probably upgrade it in a year or so.

  • Reply 89 of 113
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,945member
    seankill said:
    Not sure what this thing does that’s worth $350 USD
    it has some audio features that are present in 50000 dollars speakers.

    But its just 350! its a steal actually!
    Get a room you two!
  • Reply 90 of 113
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    At first, I thought the HomePod was going to be something of a misstep. 

    But seeing the number of people on this forum who are rubbishing it, I’m starting to wonder if it’ll turn out to be one of Apple’s most successful products. 

    I mean, we’ve got people still insisting it’ll only work with an Apple Music subscription…

    fastasleep
  • Reply 91 of 113
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member

    Each ad concludes with a call to "Order Now."


    Each ad actually concludes with the Apple logo. 
    fastasleepzroger73
  • Reply 92 of 113
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    dachar said:
    I have just viewed all four ads. Apple should be ashamed, they are the worst ads l have seen by them.

    The ads seem to be trying to use an old advertising trick of flashing words quickly to embed them subconsciously in the views’ minds. This Is not allowed  for TV adverts in my country.  

    If this is the best Apple can do l think it says something about Apple’s low priority to the HomePod. Sorry Apple but this has created the wrong feelings in my mind about the HomePod. 
    You’re talking about subliminal advertising through the use of flash frames, which is banned in many countries, but that’s not what this is. The captions are not hidden between frames; they’re displayed in the footage so there’s nothing illegal about it, or different to ads that Apple has run before. 

    I think you suffer from the same trait as most people here: the mistaken belief that Apple should design every product and every marketing campaign around them. 

    These four ads look like they’ve been built for the younger YouTube audience who’ll immediately run off to their parents and point out that the new Apple gadget they wanted for Christmas is available now. I imagine the aforementioned parents will them that they can have it … for Christmas. 
    fastasleeprandominternetperson
  • Reply 93 of 113
    croprcropr Posts: 1,122member
    jurassic said:
    seankill said:
    Siri really isn’t that useful. 

    You may not have used Siri recently (or at all), but that opinion that Siri isn't useful, or in the same league as other AI assistants has been proven to be false.

    In December 2017 LoopVentures tested the various AI assistants with the same 800 questions divided into five categories.

    Test Results:

    • Understood Query:
    • Apple Siri: 99.0%
    • Amazon Echo: 97.9%
    • Google Home: 99.9%
    • MS Cortana: 98.9%
    • Answered Correctly:
    • Apple Siri: 75.4%
    • Amazon Echo: 63.8%
    • Google Home: 81.1%
    • MS Cortana: 56.4%

    Siri is currently only slightly behind Google Home, but well ahead of both Amazon Echo and MS Cortana. And Siri's ratings have been consistently improving.

    I did a small test with Dutch version of Siri end 2017, asking the route to 5 major roads in Antwerp, the biggest Dutch speaking city in Belgium.  Siri could only find the route to 1 out of 5, which is a shame.  Google recognized 4 out of 5.     For the record the streets are: Meir, Grote Steenweg, Noorderlaan, Amerikalei, Desguinlei.   Siri gave only for Noorderlaan the correct route.  Google failed for Desguinlei.  Desguinlei is very tricky because is it a mixed word, with "Desguin" being a French name, and "lei" a Dutch word.  If I pronounced Desguin in a Dutch way, Google recognized it as well, but Siri kept on failing.

    Belgium has a multilingual setting, which means that streets, artist names and song titles can be mix of Dutch, French and English.  When Apple Maps is guiding me in the Frenchspeaking part of Belgium, it is pronouncing all French street names and towns as if they were Dutch names, which is sometimes funny, but most times quite annoying and distracting. 
     
    If the quality of Siri does not improve dramatically in any multilingual environment, the HomePad will for me remain just a dump high quality speaker .  


    edited January 2018
  • Reply 94 of 113
    I am confused by the pricing strategy. I think the HomePod is actually too cheap! If it wants to compete on sound quality, it must be at least as good as the Sonos Play 5, the Bowers & Wilkins A7 or Zeppelin, and similar.  And if it does sound better than these, does this mean Apple is now competing on price? Sounding better than a Sonos One is not enough to be considered great sound quality and $ 350 sounds too expensive for a slightly better sounding Amazon Echo. The price point is neither here nor there, seems odd for Apple products.
    edited January 2018
  • Reply 95 of 113
    "Requires compatible Apple Device"... so we are back to that, hm?
  • Reply 96 of 113
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    sflagel said:
    I am confused by the pricing strategy. I think the HomePod is actually too cheap! If it wants to compete on sound quality, it must be at least as good as the Sonos Play 5, the Bowers & Wilkins A7 or Zeppelin, and similar.  And if it does sound better than these, does this mean Apple is now competing on price? Sounding better than a Sonos One is not enough to be considered great sound quality and $ 350 sounds too expensive for a slightly better sounding Amazon Echo. The price point is neither here nor there, seems odd for Apple products.
    No, it is providing luxury at a more affordable price (that has always been it's niche), and in an easier way. Those other solutions are not just more expensive, they're also much harder to set up properly and use more space.

    $350 for a great speaker hits the high end of the demographics for speakers, but not the ones who think $50 amazon dots can compete.

    If they price too high, people will be looking at the price instead of the sound, the budget allocated to speakers is not infinite even at the higher end.

    Apple probably also thinks that if people can try it they'll love it and they'll get a volume affect tike the airpods.

    They are probably pricing it slightly lower than they'd do usually because they want to remove some wind in amazon's and Google's sail in the higher end.
    Making them think twice of investing too much effort there.
  • Reply 97 of 113
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    sflagel said:
    "Requires compatible Apple Device"... so we are back to that, hm?
    Except it's not hardware, just protocols like Homekit and Airplay, but you knew that.

    Does Apple produce everything related to Homekit? No.

    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 98 of 113
    petripetri Posts: 118member
    mercel said:
     petri said:
    DOA.
    Uh huh.  Sure, like iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, AirPods....blah blah blah.

    This thing will sell better than most people think.  Some reviews have said this $350 speaker sounds better than a pair of $1,000 speakers.   
    Frankly it doesn’t matter if this thing is the best audio device ever invented, the true audiophiles are a niche market who prefer their own niche gear, and nobody else will care and simply compare this to Alexa, which is very well established in the market and a heck of a lot cheaper. 

    The idea that you can compare this late, mediocre “me too” product to the iPhone or the iPad is just laughable.  
  • Reply 99 of 113
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    jurassic said:
    seankill said:
    Siri really isn’t that useful. 

    You may not have used Siri recently (or at all), but that opinion that Siri isn't useful, or in the same league as other AI assistants has been proven to be false.

    In December 2017 LoopVentures tested the various AI assistants with the same 800 questions divided into five categories.

    Test Results:

    • Understood Query:
    • Apple Siri: 99.0%
    • Amazon Echo: 97.9%
    • Google Home: 99.9%
    • MS Cortana: 98.9%

    • Answered Correctly:
    • Apple Siri: 75.4%
    • Amazon Echo: 63.8%
    • Google Home: 81.1%
    • MS Cortana: 56.4%

    Siri is currently only slightly behind Google Home, but well ahead of both Amazon Echo and MS Cortana. And Siri's ratings have been consistently improving.

    Do you have a link for this LoopVentures test? Thanks
  • Reply 100 of 113
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    k2kw said:
    jurassic said:
    seankill said:
    Siri really isn’t that useful. 

    You may not have used Siri recently (or at all), but that opinion that Siri isn't useful, or in the same league as other AI assistants has been proven to be false.

    In December 2017 LoopVentures tested the various AI assistants with the same 800 questions divided into five categories.

    Test Results:

    • Understood Query:
    • Apple Siri: 99.0%
    • Amazon Echo: 97.9%
    • Google Home: 99.9%
    • MS Cortana: 98.9%

    • Answered Correctly:
    • Apple Siri: 75.4%
    • Amazon Echo: 63.8%
    • Google Home: 81.1%
    • MS Cortana: 56.4%

    Siri is currently only slightly behind Google Home, but well ahead of both Amazon Echo and MS Cortana. And Siri's ratings have been consistently improving.

    Do you have a link for this LoopVentures test? Thanks
    In Dec of 2016 Loop Ventures compared Google and Alexa. I don't recall seeing one including Siri at the time? Munster did a test in May last year (I think) where he included Siri so perhaps that's the one he meant? 

     By far the most thorough test I've seen was done by Stone Temple, 5000 questions involved.
    https://www.stonetemple.com/digital-personal-assistants-test
    For those tldr folks here:

    Google Home performed best as a virtual assistant. It was able to answer the highest percentage of questions at 68.1 percent, and 90.6 percent of questions answered were absolutely complete and correct.

    Microsoft's Cortana was in second place with 56.5 percent of questions answered and 81.9% complete accuracy.

    Amazon's Alexa could answer 20.7% of the questions it was asked and got 87% of them correct.

    Apple's Siri came in fourth, only able to answer 21.7% of the same questions and the accuracy of the answers was 62.2%.

    In all fairness this was before the iOS11 Siri improvements so results would differ now. 

    edited January 2018
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