Apple’s delayed $349 ‘HomePod’ smart speaker is finally set to go on sale within weeks, it has been claimed.
The gadget will battle Amazon’s Echo and Google Home for the lucrative smart speaker market, using Apple music and Siri to do everything from play music to give news and traffic updates – but was delayed from its inital launch date of November.
The firm said it needed ‘a little more time before it’s ready’ – and now, a leading analyst says the firm is ready.
The new $349 smart ‘HomePod’ home speaker will go on sale later this year, and use Siri to aplay music and answer questions. Apple also unveiled iOS 11 and new iPads at the event.
Tech analysts GBH insights say that it expects Apple’s delayed HomePod smart speaker to be launched ‘in the next 4-6 weeks’, according to 9to5Mac.
However, it warns that it will face an ‘uphill climb’ as it seeks to compete with entrenched competitors such as Amazon and Google.’
Apple has now commented on the imminent launch, but when it announced the delay, said: ‘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.
‘We’ll start shipping in the US, UK and Australia in early 2018.’
The HomePod was first unveiled at the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.
Apple boss Tim Cook took to the stage at the McEnery Convention Centre in San Jose to unveil the speaker which he claimed will ‘reinvent home audio.’
‘We want to reinvent music in the home in the way we invented mobile music,’ said Cook.
APPLE’S HOMEPOD SPEAKER- HOW IT WORKS
Two speakers can be linked together to form a stereo pair
At just under 7 inches tall, HomePod represents years of hardware and software innovation, Apple says.
It is activated by a user saying ‘Hey Siri’.
It has an Apple-designed upward-facing woofer, paired with the custom A8 chip, enables bass management
Custom array of seven beam-forming tweeters, each with its own amplifier
Apple-designed A8 chip provides the brains behind the audio
Automatic room-sensing technology allows HomePod to quickly learn its position in a room
The $349 speaker will work with Apple Music and has several speakers and a built in woofer
A Siri waveform appears on the top to indicate when Siri is engaged
Six-microphone array with advanced echo cancellation enables Siri to understand people whether they are near the device or standing across the room
Siri waveform appears on the top to indicate when Siri is engaged, and integrated touch controls also allow easy navigation;
Automatic detection and balance of two speakers using both direct and reflected audio to deliver amazing audio wirelessly for an even more immersive experience
Easy setup that is as intuitive as setting up AirPods — simply hold an iPhone next to HomePod and it’s ready to start playing music in seconds
Six-microphone array with advanced echo cancellation enables Siri to understand people whether they are near the device or standing across the room
‘We really think its going to take your home music experience to the next level.’
The $349 speaker will work with Apple Music and has several speakers and a built in woofer.
HomePod is designed to work with the Apple Music subscription service and can produce rich sound while tapping into the artificial intelligence power of Siri.
Apple vice president Phil Schiller said the Siri team at Apple had tuned the assistant into a ‘musicologist’ that learns the tastes of listeners and gets songs from the internet cloud.
The speaker has the ‘power to rock the house,’ according to Schiller, who said the team worked to make HomePod an potent assistant for news, messages, weather, traffic, home controls and more.
‘We’re working on this speaker for later this year,’ said Phil Schiller of Apple at the time.
‘It’s absolutely beautiful, and we call it HomePod, said Schiller.
It has the same chip found inside Apple’s iPhone.
‘It’s the biggest brain ever seen in a speaker,’ said Schiller.
Phil Schiller of Apple with the HomePod, Apple’s new $349 speaker that will use its Siri smart assistant
Seven inches tall and covered in a grill, the HomePod was shown in black and white versions.
It uses a technique known as beam forming to personalise the sound for each room and listener.
Two can also be linked together to form stereo speakers.
Schiller boasted the speaker has its own ‘built in musicologist’, and uses Apple Music.
The speaker has six microphones, and is activated with the phrase Hey Siri. It can do everything from giving news, weather and sports to setting timers and texting people.
Seven inches tall and covered in a grill, the HomePod was shown in black and white versions.
It has six microphones, and is activated with the phrase Hey Siri.
It can do everything from giving news, weather and sports to setting timers and texting people.
It can also control home devices.
THE SMART SPEAKER WARS
Gadget makers are flocking to create smart speakers.
Already Samsung has revealed plans for a Bixby speaker to take on Apple’s HomePod, Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home.
Apple’s speaker will have a higher price tag than the Amazon Echo range, which begins at $49 (£49) for the Echo Dot.
The speaker will provide a hub for appliances via Apple’s HomeKit system and establish a centre inside the home to lock people in to using other Apple services, according to the report.
Apple’s $349 HomePod speaker will work with Apple Music and has several speakers and a built in woofer
A speaker might help customers stay loyal to other services such as Apple Music, Apple Watch, Apple TV and AirPods.
Google’s $130 (£105) Home speaker is triggered by the phrase ‘Hey Google’ while Amazon’s Echo uses ‘Alexa’.
Amazon’s $50 (£40) Echo Dot puts the firm’s smart speaker in a small package
Amazon’s smart speaker is available in two versions – the full sized $180 (£145) Echo shown here, and a smaller, $50 (£40) version called the Echo Dot.
Amazon Echo uses Microsoft’s Bing search engine to provide additional information, while Google Home uses the company’s own Google Search.
Both Home and Echo are continually listening for commands, though Google and Amazon say nothing gets passed back to them until the speakers hear a keyword — ‘OK, Google’ for Home and ‘Alexa’ for Echo.
Google Home Mini: Google’s clever tech-filled $49 (£34) doughnut can do almosteverything its bigger voicecontrolledGoogle Assistantpoweredsibling can do,including answer questionsand control third-party devices.
Google’s Assistant software is also able to answer follow-up questions on the same topic, in a near-conversation style, but Echo as yet cannot.
However, Amazon’s Alexa software has a wider range of skills on offer that enable it to link up with and control more third-party devices around the home.
A light comes on to remind you that it’s listening.
You can turn off the microphone temporarily, too.