Apple's entry into the smarts-speaker market with the Apple HomePod has been hotly anticipated; it'll be going head-to-head with some fairly heavy hitters, including the Amazon Echo and Google Home.
However, while the device was expected to release before Christmas this year, it has now been delayed until the New Year, according to a statement released by Apple itself.
A statement was given to TechCrunch, which said that Apple needs more time to finalise the product before it's ready for release to consumers.
"We can’t wait for people to experience HomePod, Apple’s breakthrough wireless speaker for the home, but we need a little more time before it’s ready for our customers. We’ll start shipping in the US, UK and Australia in early 2018," the firm said.
Apple announced the HomePod at its WWDC 2017 conference in June this year, when shipping plans for December were revealed.
Speculation on the grapevine says that Apple wants to polish Siri up a fair bit before the device hits the markets. As with rival smart speakers, the HomePod is entirely powered and controlled via the user's voice input, interpreted into commands and actions by the Siri AI.
Siri is MUCH better than it used to be when first launched, but it still has a bit of a reputation for less-than-flawless operation on the iPhone. Conversely, Google Assistant on Google Home, and Amazon Alexa on the Amazon Echo, both have established themselves as being VERY capable when it comes to responding to voice input, which is one of the main reasons they've both become so popular in this relatively young market.
by pbriden via Featured Articles
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