Apple has announced it’s launching its long-anticipated HomePod smart speaker-digital assistant will be available to buy beginning January 26, 2018 for online orders, and in-store Friday February 9th. The voice controlled speaker uses the power of Siri to let you control music, smart home gadgets and more.
Apple HomePod launches
The HomePod is going to sell for $349 USD which is significantly more expensive than Amazon Echo ($99US) or Google Home ($129). I’ll be very interested in digging in on what’ll set it apart fomr its competition.
In a news release, Apple says, “HomePod is a magical new music experience from Apple. It brings advanced audio technologies like beam-forming tweeters, a high-excursion woofer, and automatic spatial awareness, together with the entire Apple Music catalog and the latest Siri intelligence, in a simple, beautiful design that is so much fun to use,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “We’re so excited for people to get HomePod into their homes, apartments and businesses to hear it for themselves. We think they will be blown away by the audio quality. The team has worked to give Siri a deeper knowledge of music so that you can ask to play virtually anything from your personal favourites to the latest chart-topping releases, simply by saying ‘Hey Siri.’”
Simple pairing of HomePod with iPhone
says HomePod will be ultra easy to set up, using the same technology that’s inside AirPods. Essentially, hold an iPhone next to HomePod and it’s ready to start playing music.
HomePod has the ability to send messages, set timers and reminders, check the weather and listen to shows on Apple Podcasts, similar to what other smart digital assistants can do. Of course HomePod can also be used as a speakerphone with iPhone.
Apple HomePod Canadian availability
is available at an Apple retail price of $349 (US) in white and space grey in the US, UK and Australia and available to order beginning Friday, January 26, from apple.com and the Apple Store app. Canadian availability and pricing was not yet announced.
We’ll be hoping to get our hands on one of these devices to see how it performs compared to Google Home and Amazon Echo. Stay tuned…
