The smart speaker market

#1

With reports coming in that Apple shipped just over 600k Home pods in the first quarter of this year, which is well below what was expected. Do you think Apple has a viable chance of securing a larger portion of the smart speaker market?

Apple currently holds less than 5 percent of the market, with Amazon dominating it with 43.6 percent of market sales and google with 26.5 percent of sales. There is no doubt t Amazon holds the lead because they were first to the market with this innovative tech, but now Google jumped in and surged aheadā€¦Apple seemingly tried to do the same but delays and a higher price tag has slowed sales.

Do you own or are planning to buy an apple home pod? Or are you content with using Amazon or google? Which do you prefer and see as becoming the market leader in the near future?

I personally think that apples locked down ecosystem is harming their sales and ability to market their home pod to more people. I do not buy apple products, but that doesnā€™t mean I donā€™t use themā€¦I was recently given a Macbook Pro and I love using it, but my 5 year old laptop is still faster and I can game on it. The macbook is the only reason I could use the home pod as I ha e an ape account, which seem in ngls is the only way you can use the home pod further harm than ng its sales. If Android users wanted to use the home pod,they couldnā€™t unless the already have an account. I use my Eufy genie which is amazon Alexa and I love it, I have not used Googleā€™s so I canā€™t speak for how it works

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#2

Seeming the home pod was late to the party (arriving 4yrs after Amazonā€™s first Echo & 2yrs after Googleā€™s offering) they have quite a bit of ground to try and make up which is hard to gauge after only 6 monthsā€¦5% being pretty decent considering the other twoā€™s foothold.

However the two key failure points so far (and will be going forward) are Appleā€™s usual lock-downs to a proprietary tech (in this case the ecosystem) and as usual the costā€¦if you are seriously wanting to impact on a growing new market you have to have not only butt kicking tech and features compared to your rivals but also not be concerned about a premium price tagā€¦which unfortunately seems to be Appleā€™s driving ethosā€¦make it thinner, stylish and more expensive :wink:

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#3

Another miss for apple is the lack of being able to pair the speakers together. Had they brought that function I think the could have had a bigger market slice. But, this is home pods shipped and not soldā€¦apple seemingly wonā€™t release that data and itā€™s up to analyst to determine

#4

@ndalby do you own and use any smart speaker? If so which one do you have?

My son told me he wanted his own Alexa speaker for his bedroom once we move, along g with the light controller and stuff so he can just say Alexa turn on my lights or turn TV offā€¦kids, always trying to find ways to be lazy haha

About standards and stubbornness
#5

Not at present, kinda too old school of getting out of the chair to turn a light on etc :smile: Have been tempted a few times to jump on the Amazon Echo but then I think besides playback of Amazon music what else would I really use it forā€¦perhaps when smart features become more ā€˜mainstreamā€™ and in the long term affordable, I will probably make a jump to oneā€¦hopefully one of the SoundCore Flare variety :grin:

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#6

I own two Google speakers and two Anker made Alexa speakers. I am satisfied with both for what I use them for, but If I was a Mac only user, I might would be frustrated with the price barrier to getting a homepod.

#7

How well do you like the google one? As I mentioned i only have the duty genie. Is there one you prefer over the other, as in one works better?

#8

I definitely prefer the Google speakers over the Alexa speakers. That is primarily because Google Assistant is a far and away superior assistant to Alexa.

I donā€™t listen to music on the Eufy Genie that I have, that is in my childrens bedroom to play music while they are going to bed. The other Alexa speaker is a Zolo Halo that I listen to every day in my office it has VERY good sound for the small size. I have one google home in my bedroom and use it to play music sometimes, but mostly just alarms, weather, news, trivia, and same with the other google home in the kitchen.

All that being said, they serve different functions. I wish the Zolo Halo in my office was a Zolo Mojo, which has the Google Assistant instead of Alexa. As soon as I get a Google Assistant speaker that has good audio for music, I will make the switch for my office.

#9

Never will use such a spy.
Do you have ever read 1984?

#10

Hmm, I guess I should get a google speaker to see which I like better. But in reality I only use it for music, all the alarms are set on my phone

#11

Understandable, but one thing I have found really useful is using it to interact with my smarthome items, instead of my phone. Itā€™s much easier to tell google or alexa to do something that to pull out my phone and do it myself, or have to unlock my phone to tell google to do something.

I can make more efficient use of the various home shortcuts Iā€™ve made (good morning for lights, music, etc.; good night for lights off, garage door closed, etc.) A smart speaker makes those types of uses simpler and more seamless.

I also use the smart speakers to tell me the news and both google and alexa have very robust options for news and weather information.

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#12

Ah good point, I didnā€™t even think about using it for that. I always just reached for my phone. Once I move come August I will set it up so I use the smart speaker more and not the app, I could switch to it now but I tried and still did itā€¦so I figure new setting will force the ha it change

#13

Have you ever read ā€œThe Iron Chancellorā€ from Robert Silverberg?
You would like it, though its from ca 1955

#14

Nope, canā€™t say I have but do know the basic premise of the novel :slight_smile:

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#15

I might be showing my age, but Iā€™ve never heard of it. I can guess what itā€™s about but that doesnā€™t mean much. Iā€™m not paranoid about being spied on, it is a reality if the times. At least I am getting something out of it. And with the whole Facebook controversy, Iā€™m optimistic that there will be some amount of regulation that give us as consumers a bit more say in how our information is handled. Either way, itā€™s par for the course, currently.

#16

Ouch, could have been worse :smile:

I like how the owners mention never using again as they feel there privacy has been violatedā€¦they willing bought the item to be able to do voice commands (and all that entails) yet are shocked when the device mistakes something :confused:

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