I hadn't paid too much attention to the Homepod release date, but just checked and saw that its 'December'. I'm not a retail marekting expert, but considering that the Sonos One, all new Echo and Google Home products, and plenty of advertising is out and ready for Black Friday, does this boad rather bad for Apple in this space?
I kind of think it does. I know there are a lot of Apple fans out there who will wait, but if you're giving it as a gift, can you wait and hope it comes out in time and that you're able to get one. Does the fact that it hasn't even been fully tested and reviewed give cause for concern?
By comparison, people have stated that the Sonos One was released early. It has it's issues and is alexa integration is beta. From a business perspective, was it better to release when they did so that they were fully avaiable for Christmas? From a customer perspective, are you glad the product is out now, vs a vague date in December...even if it's not all it can be yet?
I would think from a business perspective, yes. The market right now is not just about sales numbers, but establish control of the market. Asking customers to not buy competitors products and wait for yours...is not a good idea. From my viewpoint as a customer, I'm also glad it's out now. If it came out mid December, I probably would have went out and got with little research, and probably been a little disappointed. Now, I'll either not bad and wait for more features, or buy and be satisfied that I know what I'm getting.
Question
Sonos One vs Homepod release date
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Black Friday is here and most people will make their purchasing decisions based on what products and features are available now. It is no coincidence that Google released the new broadcast feature for the Google Home just as people are finalizing their Black Friday purchasing decisions. As for Homepod... there's always next year.
I tend to think next year's going to be too late. Once people commit to a voice assistant ecosystem, it's kind of hard to switch. The same thing happened with your computer OS or phone. People stay committed. It's a little different since the price of an echo dot or google mini is so low that switching isn't that drastic. However, Apple doesn't have a cheap option.
Apple customers are lemmings. They buy Apple phones despite the fact that even the newest X version has 1/2 the LTE speed of rival Android phones. They will buy the Apple speaker even after it’s shown to be vastly inferior to Sonos. They aren’t the brightest people.
Which is why I rate Sonos very highly for moving so quickly in putting out the Sonos One with Alexa built in. They have also signaled an agnostic approach by promising Google Home integration and even Apple airplay control to come. Doing so on the Sonos One also allows for a lower price point entry which is also good for gifting seasons.
I think this move does put a bit of pressure on Apple and could relegate their sales down a bit to legacy Apple eco system users. I am an Apple user and while I look forward to hear the HomePod from an acoustic perspective they are too late to the party and too walled up in approach to interest me in this space.
I think this move does put a bit of pressure on Apple and could relegate their sales down a bit to legacy Apple eco system users. I am an Apple user and while I look forward to hear the HomePod from an acoustic perspective they are too late to the party and too walled up in approach to interest me in this space.
(1) Play 1, (1) Play 3, (2) Play 5s Gen 1, (1) Play 5 Gen 2, (1) Connect Amp powering a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 10.1, (2) Echo Dots.
Umm, I own an iPhone X AND a Sonos One. I have no interest in Apple's speaker. And the X is fine - LTE speeds aren't a factor in my purchase.
Yea, I can't fully agree with this. There is no doub that said demographic does exist, but quite a bit of iphone customers continue to go Apple not because it's Apple, because it's what they know. They don't want to try another phone because they don't want to risk disappointment. Most of the iphone users I know are like that.
And that adds to he point I was trying to make, that many customers are not going to wait for Apple. They already have an Echo or Google, or Sonos, and don't see a reason to switch. Coming first to the market matters a lot, even if you aren't the best.
I think the decision to buy Homepod or not is more likely to be based around how you want your smart home to work... Apple Homekit has a clear advantage over Alexa when it comes to smart home control as it works remotely. If you have iPhones and iPads, then keeping with Siri makes some sense.
However, so far I've found I don't have to choose one or another, and because Echo Dots are relatively cheap, then I've given Alexa a go. However, any smart home purchases now for me have to be both Alexa and Homekit compatible. I personally would never use any of these systems for music and this was another reason for dipping into Alexa, I was curious to see how it worked with Sonos.
I have Echo's in certain rooms as when at home I don't always have a phone on me, I tend to leave it lying around somewhere, so a fixed device in key rooms is useful.
Apple has never been about being first to market, their strength is coming in later and delivering a high end experience. (Doesn't always work) So I personally don't think they're that worried. The current state of the whole voice control market is still very early days and the experiences vary wildly. Also with the likes of an Echo dot being cheap, it's not necessarily a barrier to switching if Apple deliver better integration.
The chances of Apple doing that rest heavily on them making Homekit compatibility easier. They've taken the first step there by removing the need for special hardware for encryption, so maybe next year Homekit will take off more. As it stands, whilst I think Homekit devices work better as they can be controlled remotely, Alexa has a much more pervasive skill set inside the home, and that is going to take some catching up. I'm not sure if Amazon can compete fully software wise with the might of Apple and Google, but they've been clever making their APIs and SDKs widely available and not creating big barriers to entry, you can get Alexa running now on a Raspberry Pi with a microphone and speaker plugged in... Add that to their ability to shift volume at retail and it certainly makes life harder for the big two...
I think next year will be very interesting.
However, so far I've found I don't have to choose one or another, and because Echo Dots are relatively cheap, then I've given Alexa a go. However, any smart home purchases now for me have to be both Alexa and Homekit compatible. I personally would never use any of these systems for music and this was another reason for dipping into Alexa, I was curious to see how it worked with Sonos.
I have Echo's in certain rooms as when at home I don't always have a phone on me, I tend to leave it lying around somewhere, so a fixed device in key rooms is useful.
Apple has never been about being first to market, their strength is coming in later and delivering a high end experience. (Doesn't always work) So I personally don't think they're that worried. The current state of the whole voice control market is still very early days and the experiences vary wildly. Also with the likes of an Echo dot being cheap, it's not necessarily a barrier to switching if Apple deliver better integration.
The chances of Apple doing that rest heavily on them making Homekit compatibility easier. They've taken the first step there by removing the need for special hardware for encryption, so maybe next year Homekit will take off more. As it stands, whilst I think Homekit devices work better as they can be controlled remotely, Alexa has a much more pervasive skill set inside the home, and that is going to take some catching up. I'm not sure if Amazon can compete fully software wise with the might of Apple and Google, but they've been clever making their APIs and SDKs widely available and not creating big barriers to entry, you can get Alexa running now on a Raspberry Pi with a microphone and speaker plugged in... Add that to their ability to shift volume at retail and it certainly makes life harder for the big two...
I think next year will be very interesting.
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