Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has unveiled its HomePod smart speaker to compete with Google Home and Amazon Echo but critics have questioned whether it is worth the expensive price tag.
The HomePod, a wireless speaker for the home that allows users to ask Apple’s voice assistant Siri to play music and ask questions, will retail for US$349 when it is released in December in the UK, the US and Australia.
That compares to Amazon Echo, which costs US$180, and Google Home, which retails for US$129.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook showed off the features of the product at the tech giant’s worldwide annual developers conference in California, promoting its excellent sound quality.
The seven-inch tall device works with Apple Music and has seven small “tweeter” speakers arranged in a ring around the bottom of the unit and a large 4-inch woofer in the middle. It will also have an iPhone A8 chip, which will supposedly adapt sound to fit the room.
Apple is betting that some customers will pay a premium for higher sound quality.
But some tech heads reviewing the product said Apple customers might be disappointed by its lack of revolutionary new features.
Apple's Siri lags behind rivals in intelligence, study shows
A study from digital agency Stone Temple also revealed that Siri lags behind many of its competitors in the intelligence department.
The study asked 5,000 random questions to a number of voice assistant products.
It found the smartest device was the Google Home Assistant, which answered 69% of the questions and 91% of those completely and correctly. The traditional text-based Google search was able to answer 97.4% of questions asked and 100% complete and correct.
Microsoft’s Cortana came in second place at 56% of questions answered and 82% of those answered correctly.
Siri, which has been included in Apple devices since 2014, was able to answer only 22% of questions and 62% of them correctly.
The Alexa on Amazon Echo answered 21% and 87% of those correctly.
Amazon Echo the market leader...
Amazon reportedly sold more than 11 million Echo devices between mid-2015 and 1 December 2016 while Google is expected to have sold just one million of its Home products by mid-2017.
Apple is now playing catch-up as demand for smart devices grows.
Amazon and Google’s smart speakers are designed to support other areas of business. The Echo helps Amazon sell Amazon Prime subscriptions and other digital content while Google aims to lure customers into its services that support its advertising revenue.
Apple is a device-focused business that needs to convince customers to pay the hefty price for quality products. Its products do complement each other, however, and its iOS system aims to prevent its customers from straying as it is not compatible with its more universal peer, Android.
While some expect the HomePod to sell out on its release over Christmas, it failed to inspire much in investors at the conference with shares falling 1% yesterday after an analyst downgrade from Pacific Crest.
Pacific Crest cut its long-held ‘overweight’ rating to ‘sector weight’, warning that investors expecting the iPhone 8 to boost margins aren’t pricing in enough risk after the excitement following the phone’s release dies down.
Shares rose 0.13% to US$154.11 in early US trading today.