From Apple Fan Boy #3, This Is Simply Fascinating: The Apple HomePod, Not Yet Available, Has Already Sold Out -- February 8, 2018

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Updates

February 9, 2018: after reading the reviews, I may have to change my mind and buy one. LOL.

Original Post

My thoughts on the HomePod, in an e-mail to a read, not ready for Prime Time:

There's a lot going on with Apple, Inc. The pundits are all focused on the future of the iPhone and concerned that Apple is not selling as many phones as predicted. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. But if pundits are thinking that, surely the Apple folks are aware of the danger of becoming too dependent on any one product line, also.

Apple doesn't break out data for a lot of their products and/or services.

I don't subscribe to any music streaming device, so I have no idea how good those streaming services are and why they attract so much attention and so many folks (when there is so much free music). Years ago, it was Pandora. I don't hear much about Pandora any more. Now, I hear a lot about Spotify. It appears that Spotify is #1; apparently it has set the bar and has the most subscribers.

The other day it was reported that Apple Music will soon overtake Spotify. Again, I don't know, but just to come out of nowhere it seems, for Apple Music to now be in the position to overtake Spotify is remarkable.

The subscription price for Apple Music: $9.99 / month. This month. Next month. Every month.That's a huge on-going revenue stream for Apple. It would be interesting to know the margins on music streaming. My hunch: pretty good.

I was eager to go out and buy Apple's smart speaker, the HomePod. But now that I've read more about it, it appears the HomePod is something I am not interested in. I don't know much about it yet but apparently it will not play music streaming from other devices unless it is streaming Apple Music. We love our EU Boom and I thought the HomePod would be similar. Apparently entirely different.

A fair number of people (those commenting at MacRumors) were unaware of that, as I was, and are also upset. They say they, too, won't buy the HomePod if it can't do what other BlueTooth (wireless) speakers can do.

[It's a little confusing: the HomePod specs say that HomePod does have BlueTooth 5.0 like other wireless speakers but apparently that is only to "set up" the speaker. After that, it's a "computer" and uses wi-fi, not BlueTooth, to stream music and for all other "smart" mobile-device features. I could be wrong. I'll talk with the folks at the local Apple store later.]

They say Apple will lose a lot of HomePod sales for that reason (it's already sold out, see above), that is it not compatible with YouTube on my MacBook Air, for example.

The counter-argument, made by others, and with which I strongly agree, Apple is not concerned about losing HomePod sales to folks like me or to Android folks. What Apple is interested in is their own products, not Android products.

The number of folks using iPhones is simply astounding. From reliable sources:

In 2017, forecasters predict that around 223 million people in the U.S. will be using a smartphone, which accounts for around 83.8 percent of all mobile users . Of these 223 million smartphone users, over 90 million will own an iPhone.

• Rounding: 80% of Americans use smart phones (the rest of us use the old Samsung clamshell, apparently)
• close to half of those using smart phones in the US are using iPhones
• in round numbers, 200 million in the US use smart phones
• in round numbers, 100 million in the US use iPhones

In addition, the HomePod is optimized to work with the iPad. Although it appears that the percent of tablets that are iPads is dropping, somewhere between 45 and 50 percent of all tablets sold are iPads.

Apparently the quality of the sound coming from the HomePod is incredible. For an Apple product the price point is fine ($350) although it is about twice what other wireless speakers would cost -- but most of those other speakers (like our UE Boom) are not smart speakers.The HomePod is a computer, just different.

Bottom line: I am anticipating that Apple will see another huge bump in its revenue stream when folks start buying the HomePod and sign up for Apple Music.

Again, the pundits are focused on the iPhone. Everyone remembers what Steve Jobs and a gazillion other people have said about skating to where the puck will be. A one-time purchase of a $1,000-phone is fine, but getting folks to pay for music subscriptions after that, at $9.99/month is ... well, priceless.

It sort of reminds me of "Ma Bell" -- they never sold you one of their telephones. You paid an initial price to have it installed and then after that you rented it on a monthly basis. Apple is doing the same thing: an initial cost up front to get the iPhone, and then monthly subscription(s).