[MBCook]

I agree with everything you said about Apple’s MO.

But this thing is expensive. Siri almost seems grafted on (they wouldn’t even let people try it at the announcement) to a speaker that was already in development.

I wonder if this will be the iPod HiFi 2.0. Sounds great, too expensive, no one cares.

I’m curious about it but have no real interest in it as a speaker or assistant.

Reviews should prove interesting.

[slantyyz]

>> But this thing is expensive.

I don't necessarily agree. I was shopping around for multi-room audio solutions, namely Sonos. I don't think the Homepod price is that out of whack compared to Sonos or Google Home Max. And this is coming from someone who generally finds Apple products way overpriced.

[MBCook]

That may be. I guess it’s within reason for the multi-room solutions. But

1) How big is that market?

and

2) It doesn’t do multi-room at launch

This all just feels odd to me. Like it slipped through a hole in Apple’s process.

[slantyyz]

1) Don't know. But not all of Apple's other markets are as huge as iPhone/iPad/Mac Laptops (i.e., Apple TV, Mac Pro).

2) In fairness, Amazon Echo did not do multi-room at launch either. I tend to think Apple fans won't have a problem waiting for that feature update. I'm not an Apple fan myself any more, but in general, when they do a feature, they do it right.