Apple has finally shed some light on the release of its much-anticipated wireless speaker set to take on Google Home and Amazon Alexa for control the home, 'HomePod'.
Apple has announced the HomePod, a breakthrough wireless speaker for the home that delivers unbelievable audio quality and uses spatial awareness to sense its location in a room and automatically adjust the audio.
"The price tag is notably higher than both Amazon and Google's smart home offerings", he pointed out, "and while it will no doubt appeal to Apple fans, there is little to suggest - at least from the initial details - that this will directly compete against those Echo and Home devices".
The HomePod will be available in December. When away from home, the HomePod is the ideal home hub, providing remote access and home automations through the Home app on the iPhone or iPad.
But HomePod is the only one of these to offer Siri and integration with Apple's HomeKit smart home system.
HomePod can adjust its sound based on its location in a room. Created to work with an Apple Music subscription for access to over 40 million songs, the HomePod provides deep knowledge of personal music preferences and tastes and helps users discover new music.
Whole-home audio controls will become part of Apple's Home app, which lets users control smart home devices in each room of the house.
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Apple-designed upward-facing woofer, paired with the custom A8 chip, enables bass management through real-time software modeling that ensures the speaker delivers the deepest and cleanest bass possible, with low distortion. With seven beam-forming tweeters - that's one more sound driver than the Sonos Play 5 - it's built to sound great.
The HomePod speaker stands just under seven inches tall and is covered in fabric mesh that will come in white or gray. The device is compatible with iPhone 5s and later, running iOS 11. Siri waveform appears on the top to indicate when Siri is engaged, with touch controls for navigation. Apple was nearly sheepish in mentioning that, yes, Siri on the HomePod can do most of the usual Siri things like make appointments, find sports scores, and send messages. But the product seems directly inspired by existing smart speakers from Amazon and Google.
HomePod like all the other Apple devices send information to Apple's server in encrypted form and with your unique Siri identifier that makes your personal information secure.
When will Apple release HomePod?
Apple's HomePod will be available for $349 this December in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Tim Cook said Amazon Prime TV for Apple TV will land later on this year, though he didn't say why there was such a delay.
But at US$349 (S$480) in the US, the HomePod is almost twice as expensive as the Echo (US$179.99) and three times the price of the Google Home (US$109).
"I think it's a very Apple-esque product in that it seeks to stake out the high end of a market with its technology, price and positioning", said analyst Paul Erickson from IHS Markit.
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