cameraguy64

I have about $1000 of HomePods that now have a very fuzzy future on support, new features, bug fixes, etc

The issues posed by this decision and the failure to realize how detrimental this is to their offering IMO includes but is not limited to: 


1. The one thing with the HomePod truly does well is music. It’s a crap smart assistant compared to its competitors. The experience with the HomePod mini is the same overall, however it sounds only marginally better than my iPad at best. Meaning it’s still a smart speaker but only really excels at being able to play music on Apple Music, but it just doesn’t sound all that good doing it. 

2. I would expect the HomePod mini would act as an entry point to the HomePod ecosystem for many. And there’s no doubt in my mind that if the HomePod ecosystem grows through the HomePod mini, with a little patience OG HomePod sales would grow alongside it. I assume that was part of the rationale in introducing the HomePod mini. The HomePod mini would be the iPhone, and the HomePod would be the iPhone pro. 

3. While the Apple smart home experience is far from perfect, I would consider it semi-complete. If you remove the OG HomePod from the mix it gets really confusing and silly. It leaves big gaping holes in what their “vision” is for a functioning ecosystem in a smart home top to bottom.  For example, say I buy offbrand airplay 2 speakers that I want to be able to use to play apple music in my home. I, like many of you would refuse to use anything that listens all the time made by Google or Amazon, which means that I either have to tell my phone hey siri to play music in a certain room (something it doesn’t do very well, and never mind the fact that for some reason the watch still doesn’t do this with siri) or I still have a HomePod mini in that room that I would tell to play the music. But you would have to word it so that you’re telling the HomePod mini to play music on another speaker in that room and not the HomePod mini itself. Because I really do want a decent smart assist and a decent speaker in the same room.  And when you consider multiple rooms, like what, do actually expect you to have a HomePod mini along with an actual decent sounding airplay/HomeKit speaker in every room? 

4. I don’t expect that they will support this software wise with new features very long, let alone bug fixes. Also let alone in a timely manner. And with how many bugs still exist and have existed for a long time my expectations that they ever get fixed is lowered further.  It’s not being replaced by a new model, it’s being discontinued. It runs the same software as the mini, sure, but the hardware is different. Which doesn’t bode super well imo for attention of any sort. It’s already neglected before it was discontinued. 

5. as it starts to get gray in the face software update wise, I can definitely see a scenario for those that use it entirely as a home hub on HomeKit or as one of their home hubs on HomeKit, where without buying a new device you either don’t get all the new HomeKit features and improvements, or you have a much buggier experience. Something that is already been a problem in the past between different home hubs. Also , Remember that you can’t disable the HomePod as a home hub like you can an Apple TV. 

6. Did I mention how truly stupid this seems to me? Like it feels like I should sell the three I have and get out early. They are signaling they aren’t going to offer anything in this market segment at the moment. They are already neglected software wise, it will only get worse, and they’re so proprietary, and they weren’t cheap. 

Anyone else?!