Notsofast

melgross said:

According to the latest numbers, the HomePod has a 7% marketshare here in the US. That percentage has been shrinking, from a high that itself was pretty low. It’s well behind the market leaders.

i have two of them, so I’m not against it. It’s pretty good, for what it does. But realistically, it’s going nowhere. Apple needed to have a much cheaper model as well, when they first introduced this.

You missed the entire point of the article, go back and re read.  It's like saying the iPhone is only 15% of the market compared to Android phones, and that Apple needs a much cheaper smart phone.  LOL- NO.  That's the mistake of assuming Apple equates success with market share when that's never what they set out to do. The HomePod wasn't made to compete with $29 throwaway Echos.  The HomePod is seen as a higher end audio experience that could also offer the smart speaker tasks that most people want to do, and Apple  knew that the Amazon 4000 "skills" was a gimmick that would be irrelevant, and it is.  Apple wisely is playing the long game of a superior experience, and that's why they haven't rolled it out for sales everywhere at once. Apple has been enhancing the Siri experience on the HomePod in each of the world's major languages/dialects as you can see by their rollout, with Japanese being most recently enhanced.


 Beyond that, all you have with the "latest numbers" are wild ass guesses anyways.  Apple doesn't report sales of HomePods so the numbers are all made up by "analysts" who have to "publish or perish" as they are charging for these reports. 

Excellent.  Surveys do show the myth that Alexa "skills' are a useful advantage.  Most people haven't used even a single one, and the vast, vast majority of users of smart speakers use them to play music/podcasts, set timers, do basic home automation, check weather and traffic.  Siri does a great, though imperfect, on each of these, and with Siri shortcuts,  

A couple of quibbles.  Would be good to point out that the recent "studies" are consistent in showing that Siri is more accurate than Alexa and Cortana, and getting pretty close to Google.    Also, the 4 million figure from Canalys should be reported with more skepticism.  Apple doesn't report HomePod sales, so any figure is highly suspect.

wonkothesane said:

I am wondering exactly what the challenge was where Apple decided to pull out. 

Three devices, instead of two.  Different charge rates, etc.  This device doesn't take on those challenges.   We also don't know about what level of interference and heat this manufacturer found acceptable.  

This article skims over a key fact that many readers will miss-- Each of these apps can still use always on location tracking!   All Apple did was to wisely eliminate it as a checkbox choice, FOR EVERY APP.  Instead, an app will have to make an explicit request for always on tracking and then the user has to take a few seconds to go into privacy settings and allow it.  

These particular app companies are being disingenuous in that they are afraid that they can't make the case for always on tracking and they are currently relying on people giving them permission without thinking about it.  They are not afraid that you won't be able to use their apps, because obviously if you download it, you are going to give it permissions to work, but they fear that having people make a more conscious decision to allow "always on" tracking will result in fewer people choosing to do so, and them having less data to harvest and sell.  

seanismorris said:

How odd...

HomePod only launched in English speaking countries initially, then took a long time to launch in Japan.  Japan is arguably Apple’s most important international market.

I assume Siri works just fine recognizing Japanese... so why the delay?  I’m left with regulations or cost...

Could Apple been initially been selling HomePods for a loss, so delayed the launch?  I don’t think Apple breaks down earning enough for us to do more than speculate.

FYI: The Apple Watch was simultaneously launched in the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada, China (including Hong Kong), France, Germany and Japan.

HomePod is such a high visibility device, that  Apple has been customizing language support for Siri on the HomePod in each of the worlds major languages prior to rollout.