Amazon Has a Few Things to Say About Apple’s HomePod

Apple’s HomePod speakers won’t be arriving before fall.

What services and apps do they work with?

In contrast, the reviewers have criticized regarding the sound quality of both, Google and Amazon speakers.

Consumer spending on smart home related products and services will reach almost $90 billion this year and reach $155 billion by 2022, according to consultant Strategy Analytics.

You’ll be able to play music (obviously), connect multiple in a single room, and use a multiroom setup too (like Sonos or Google Home).

Amazon created the smart speaker market in 2014 with the release of the Echo.

In the case of Apple’s HomePod, though, you’ll only have one choice: Apple Music.

Which is the best in-home Smart Assistant Among the three? Interestingly, Apple is selling the HomePod with an emphasis on its use a home music speaker; however, audiophiles are in a better position to judge if HomePod is worth its $349 price tag.

That means Alexa can be used to control a lot of smart home gadgets already and can also offer up the kinds of features we need when cooking, cleaning or slumming around the home. By choosing a music-first, premium approach, Apple appears content to let Amazon win the numbers battle with its lower-cost smart speaker.

Apple’s new iMacs are getting brighter displays and graphics capabilities, which Apple says makes the Mac a great platform for developing virtual-reality experiences. Apple’s commitment to user privacy-as well as its relative lack of user data, compared to Google and Amazon-has also limited its ability to personalize Siri or anticipate users’ needs.

Mr Frank Gillett, principal analyst at research firm Forrester Research, said: “Home speaker devices have become an important host for virtual assistants like Siri“. You’ll also be able to control HomeKit enabled smart home products by voice. But while Apple stayed focused on upgrading its flagship product, the iPhone, through the years, other competitors developed their own voice-activated assistants.

There are spec differences too: HomePod features 7 tweeters, a 4-inch woofer, a 6-microphone array and an Apple A8 chip processor, while Echo features a 2.0-inch tweeter, a 2.5-inch woofer, a 7-microphone array and a Texas Instruments processor.

Apple at the Worldwide Developers Conference in California on Monday (7 June) announced HomePod, a wireless speaker that delivers fantastic audio quality and uses spatial awareness to sense its location in a room and automatically adjust the audio.

For instance, if a contact sends you a request for money, Siri will immediately surface the new Apple Pay feature in your messages which allows you to make person-to-person payments, a challenge to PayPal Holdings Inc.’s similar Venmo system.

The HomePod is Apple’s first new gadget in almost three years, following its announcement of the Apple Watch in September 2014. The Amazon Echo Dot is $49.99, the Echo is $179.99, and the Echo Show is $229.99. But go tell that to Apple Fanboys, who, I am pretty sure, will buy these in big numbers!