Apple’s HomePod will be Delayed until “Early” 2018

Apple announced their version of their personal assistant/speaker during WWDC this year.  In comparison to the Amazon or Google products, it didn’t really measure up.  Yes, it looked really cool, but at the time, Siri was a hot mess.  Which is why I didn’t feel like too many people were all that excited about it.  At the time also, they had anticipated that they would have their HomePod’s available by Christmas.  Well, if you’ve been waiting on one, you’re going to have to wait a bit longer.  Apple has released a statement saying that it’s pushed the HomePod’s release date into early 2018.  What do you think about this?

I’d say it’s kind of disappointing.  In the same way that I’m disappointed, there weren’t more units of the iPhone X available.  Apple has indicated that they just need a little bit more time. A little bit more time?  For what, exactly?  Is this an attempt to create more demand for the product, or is this just sloppy on Apple’s part?  I am not trying to be hard on Apple, but it just feels like they can’t get it together with their new products.  Not only that, but these are some pretty high tech products.  Which is why I think its worse.  Let me explain that a little bit further.  You blow people away with your announcements of what’s to come.  Which is some pretty amazing, innovative technology, and then you can’t deliver?  That’s the problem I’m having.

And early 2018 is kind of vague.  Does that mean January or March?  To put this into perspective the original Apple Watch, for example, was promised in early 2015, but it didn’t ship until April of that year.  This happened with the AirPods as well.  Which is why I think all of this is so disappointing.  In addition, Apple isn’t saying exactly why there is a delay.  There might be a connection to the AirPlay 2 – which the HomePod uses, but no official statement on that.

For those of you who weren’t glued to WWDC, HomePod plays music wirelessly over wi-fi directed from Apple Music or over AirPlay from nearby iPhones, iPads, Macs and Apple TVs.  HomePod has Siri built right into it for voice control using a six-microphone array, which is what makes it a smart speaker.  Apple is suggesting that the HomePod for playing music is going to be far superior to other smart speakers, indicating:

“HomePod features a large, Apple-designed woofer for deep, clean bass, a custom array of seven beam-forming tweeters that provide pure high frequency acoustics with incredible directional control and powerful technologies built right in to preserve the richness and intent of the original recordings.”

The HomePod seems like a no-brainer for anyone who is knee deep in the Apple ecosystem.  I’m not here to make any large-scale comparisons to the Google Home or Amazon Echo, but it makes you wonder if the HomePod is really necessary?  It is also supposed to cost a lot more than these other two products.   It didn’t have the capability of streaming music through other services – like Spotify.  So is it really as good as they say? Right now we only have specs and Apple’s word as to how great it will be.  I hope, for Apple’s sake, that it is incredible as I think this delay might mean a set back for Apple with this one.  But I’ve been known to be wrong, so stay tuned for further details on that one.