Apple to Begin Selling Delayed HomePod Speaker -- Update
January 23 2018 - 10:32AM
Dow Jones News
By Tripp Mickle
Apple Inc. will start selling its voice-activated speaker
HomePod in stores Feb. 9, bringing an end to a delayed launch that
cost the company sales during the critical holiday shopping
season.
The tech giant announced the sales date Tuesday but didn't
explain why the product missed its promised ship date last
December. The HomePod can be preordered online beginning Jan.
26.
The shipping delay gave market leaders Amazon.com Inc. and
Alphabet Inc. the chance to sell more Echo and Google Home devices
during the holidays, while Apple continued to work on a product it
said wasn't ready for sale.
Amazon, the first major tech company to enter the smart-speaker
market in late 2014, opened a wide lead, selling more than 20
million Echos before accounting for the Christmas season. Its
hockey puck-sized Echo Dot is estimated to account for more than
half of sales, largely because of its lower price, which dropped to
$30 during the holidays and now sells for $50.
The smart speaker market is expected to increase shipment volume
by more than 50% this year to 56 million units, according to the
market researcher Canalys. The U.S. will account for more than half
of those sales, it said.
At $349, the HomePod costs more than double the currently listed
prices of $100 for Amazon's latest Echo and $129 for a Google Home.
Apple has tried to differentiate its speaker from those other
devices by emphasizing sound quality, particularly when playing
music, over its ability to perform tasks.
Voice-activated speakers have moved to the forefront in a battle
over what some technology analysts predict will be the future of
computing. Assistants such as Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa,
Microsoft Corp.'s Cortana and Google Assistant are expected to be
embedded in more than 4 billion consumer devices by the end of
2018, allowing people to perform simple computing tasks by voice
such as searching for information or turning off lights, according
to the research firm IHS Markit.
Apple's Siri has a commanding lead in availability over rivals
by virtue of being featured on more than 1 billion iPhones and
iPads. However, Amazon and Google are aiming to catch up by cutting
deals to put their assistants into some Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles
and Sony Corp. televisions. Amazon's assistant, for example, can
perform thousands of commands compared with hundreds by Siri.
The HomePod was the latest in a series of products Apple
delayed. The AirPods earbuds also missed their promised ship date
last year and the Apple Watch, promised in early 2015, arrived late
that April.
Apple said the HomePod initially will be available in the U.S.,
U.K. and Australia, and will arrive in France and Germany this
spring.
Write to Tripp Mickle at Tripp.Mickle@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 23, 2018 10:17 ET (15:17 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024