Apple aims to ‘reinvent home music’ with HomePod smart speaker

The device was previewed on stage Monday at WWDC, Apple’s annual developer conference in San Jose.

Siri, the company’s almost-forgotten, voice-activated assistant, has always been outdone and eclipsed by Amazon and Google’s hardware assistants. With that caveat, a single HomePod did sound better than the Sonos and Echo-it pumped out music that was rich, with bass that didn’t distort and a surround sound-like effect that belied the fact it came from one (fairly) small gadget. Jan Dawson, chief analyst with Jackdaw Research, says the price is good for a high-end audio device.

With an upcoming software update for iPhones and iPads, Siri will learn your habits based on what articles you might be reading, for instance. That money can immediately be used in retail stores that take Apple Pay or can be moved to a bank account.

Like those other products it is created to be a digital home assistant, capable of answering questions about maths as well as music-related enquiries – but it comes with some Apple quirks.

Meanwhile, Siri is behind Alexa in terms of smart home capabilities, so Apple is hoping that superior hardware can make up for deficiencies in software and services.

But for a company that doesn’t want your data – to make Siri better, it has increasingly been asking for it. Apple contends that it still doesn’t want to see your information. Apple said all communications are encrypted.

High Sierra will be released later this year as a free update, according to Mr. Federighi.

Ideally, the smooth, alien-looking cylinder would scream “futuristic”, but for many haters, the white version of the device just screams “something you use to wipe your butt”.

Following in Google’s footsteps, Siri will also be able to translate and speak phrases from six languages, with more coming later, Apple said.

If Apple unveils a rival to internet-connected speakers from Amazon and Google, it wouldn’t be the first time that Apple hops on the bandwagon of a technology product popularized by a competitor.

If Apple is catching up to PCs when it comes to virtual reality, it’s just leapfrogged over everyone in augmented reality.

The new technology blurs the line between what’s real and what’s computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel, and smell. That company offers a similar wireless multi-speaker system for listening to music throughout the home, similar to HomePod’s ability to chain together multiple speakers. But so far, interest has been strongest among gamers, developers and hardware makers rather than everyday users. But the company relented, and Apple’s larger phones have become hot commodities as more people have embraced having a bigger display to look at pictures and watch video on the devices. Yet it isn’t as bulky as the 12.9-inch model.

Apple earlier introduced a new version of its iPad Pro, as well as a raft of new software updates. In addition, the device will be able to control smart home devices through Apple’s existing HomeKit framework, with the HomePod acting as a bridge when a person uses their iPhone to set smart device actions. New iMacs and MacBook laptops start shipping Monday.