Much Anticipated Apple’s HomePod Delayed to 2018

Admit it, if home entertainment is essential to you, you want one under your Chrismas tree or during your Hanukah celebration. Apple’s HomePod Speakers are just so cool, how could you not? Unfortunately for all tech gadget lovers, patience is going to be needed. We have some bad news. Apple hasn’t finished building it and is delaying its shipment.

HomePod is a new smart speaker that connects to Siri and features voice control and spatial awareness to adapt the sound to different rooms.

“It will reinvent home audio,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook last June at WWDC in San Jose, California..

Shipment Delayed

Apple disappointed many when it revealed on Friday that it would start to ship HomePod early January 2018 to allow time for finetuning the device, missing the busy shopping Holiday season to make its mark.

“We can’t wait for people to experience HomePod, Apple’s breakthrough wireless speaker for the home, but we need a little more time before it’s ready for our customers,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said. “We’ll start shipping in the U.S., U.K. and Australia in early 2018.”

Missed Opportunity

Missing out on the opportunity to sell its device during the critical holiday season is a huge setback to Apple. The revenue loss can be staggering. The company not only loses the opportunity to sell the HomePod to shoppers during the time of the year where they feel obligated to do and are looking for a deal but also misses out on the chance to make its mark among younger shoppers who are always looking for the latest smart gadget. With Amazon and Google breathing down its neck and giving shoppers killers discounts around Black Friday and beyond for their brand of smart speakers, Apple is potentially losing on prospective HomePod customers for this season. It’s unlikely that these shoppers will want to wait until sometimes early 2018. The HomePod isn’t the iPhone 10 with people lining up around the block and losing sleep over its release.

The bigger concern for Apple is another set back to get into shoppers’ home. Apple is already behind Amazon and Google in this area, and speaker makers like Sonos, Sony and Lenovo are Amazon’s Alexa or Google Assistant compatible.

What does it mean for consumers?

For consumers, it means one less smart speaker to choose from even though this one is on the high end of the pricing scale. The HomePod, priced at $349 is about six times more expensive than the Echo Dot or Google Home Mini, both priced around $50.

Fans

Of course, Apple is known for coming into a populated market and pushing the competition out with a better product. And it does have a loyal fan base that wouldn’t be caught with anything but Apple, which could be its saving grace.

HomePod at a Glance:

At the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple unveiled its much-rumored Siri-based speaker, the HomePod. HomePod promises to reinvent the way music is enjoyed in the home, and, according to Apple, it will blow the competition out of the water by manufacturing a smart speaker with incredible sound.

  • Superior sound and microphone technology
  • Siri integration
  • Apple designed woofer
  • Seven tweeters
  • 7-inch mesh body
  • Spatial recognition

Apple says,

“HomePod integrates with Apple Music and features built-in Siri support. With a six-microphone array, the speaker can detect Siri commands from anywhere in a room, even when loud music is playing. Siri has an improved understanding of music-related queries and can help users discover new content, serving as an in-home musicologist.”

We’re ready. Bring it on. Would you be willing to wait until 2018 to experience the HomePod superior sound?

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