Apple HomePod goes on sale February 9
Apple announced that HomePod will go on sale on February 9 at a price of $ 350. Pre-order will begin this Friday. The device will be sold only in the US, UK and Australia. And in the spring the column will appear in France and Germany.
At a wrong time
Initially, HomePod was supposed to go on sale in December 2017, but Apple postponed the release. This meant that the company would miss the holidays. Just at this time, Google and Amazon were able to sell a huge number of "smart" columns. But, most likely, for Apple it's not so scary, because all small speakers are not their competitors, except Google Home Max.
Column capabilities
Apple showed HomePod back in July at WWDC 2017 and it seems that since that time the company has not added anything new. The device is still focused on music and sound quality, rather than on the voice assistant capabilities, like most other "smart" speakers. Yes, and the possibilities of Siri so far will be limited. At the presentation, Apple said that HomePod will work with Apple Music, and what about the users of Play Music and Spotify? The company also said that the column will not support the "Multi-room Audio" technology. This function will appear already with the update.
Source: The Verge