1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,920 Love them or hate them, you have to give Apple credit for one thing. Over the past couple of 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:08,160 decades, they haven't really put out very many products that utterly failed in the market. 3 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:12,400 I mean, they're still selling that absurd thousand dollar monitor stand because enough 4 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:17,600 people are buying it. But one of Apple's most glaring missteps was this thing, the HomePod. 5 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:22,080 Apple's attempt to break into the smart speaker market. And the funny thing is that Apple seems 6 00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:27,120 like the perfect company to release a successful smart speaker. It's much more of a lifestyle 7 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:31,280 brand than competitors like Google and Microsoft, and it has a strong foothold in the cloud 8 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:36,400 services market. So why did nobody want a HomePod? One big reason was that Apple was late to the 9 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,640 market. The smart speaker trend really started taking off shortly after Amazon released the 10 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:45,760 original Echo back in 2014. And of course, Google followed with the Google Home, now called Nest, 11 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:50,800 in 2016. But Apple's HomePod wasn't released till 2018. And by that time, both Amazon and 12 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:54,960 Google had released mini versions of their original speakers, giving consumers even more 13 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,560 non-Apple options before Apple could even get their foot in the door. But it's not like this 14 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,720 thing was the first time Apple was late to something. The iPod, for instance, wasn't the 15 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:07,840 first MP3 player, and the iPhone wasn't the first smartphone. But both products sold so well, 16 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:13,280 they became a cultural phenomenon. However, the iPod and iPhone offered consumers paradigm 17 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:18,240 shifting ways of interacting with their devices, whereas the HomePod just kind of didn't. Although 18 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,960 the HomePod's defining feature was supposed to be its superior sound quality compared to the Echo 19 00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:27,120 and the Google Home, that isn't exactly a game changer when you consider most folks who want to 20 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:32,240 purchase smart speakers just want sound that's good enough to fill a space, not audiophile-level 21 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:36,720 quality. Which leads us to another key reason that the HomePod failed. The HomePod sold for a 22 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:43,760 whopping US$349. And while Apple has obviously been successful at selling other arguably overpriced 23 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:48,880 products, the HomePod price point just doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. It was way too 24 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:53,360 expensive for casual users looking for a smart assistant with decent sound quality, but it was 25 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:58,160 also just too much money for people who are serious about sound. For that price, they'd be better off 26 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:02,560 buying a cheap smart speaker from Amazon or Google to take care of the smart aspect and buy 27 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,960 hi-fi speakers for music separately. And as an added bonus, some of those other options you can 28 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:11,600 just plug into hi-fi speakers. Of course, Apple being Apple, they could have found other ways to 29 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:16,480 add value, but they just didn't. Although Siri was a massive deal when it first came out on iPhone, 30 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:20,960 the fact that Apple was late to the smart home game meant that Siri wasn't all that useful on 31 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:25,040 the HomePod. If you wanted to control another gadget with your house with the HomePod, 32 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:29,440 it had to be through Apple HomeKit. And although HomeKit isn't a bad ecosystem, 33 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:33,200 there simply weren't as many devices that supported it as there were devices that already 34 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:37,920 worked with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. But the final nail in the coffin was the limitations 35 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:42,640 they placed on music. If you wanted to listen to music, you could only stream it through Apple 36 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,120 music. Meaning if you were subscribed to another service like Spotify or Tidal, 37 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:51,280 you were out of luck. Although Apple finally opened up the HomePod software to support other 38 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:56,320 streaming services in 2020, it was far too late to make anyone care. So the original HomePod was 39 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:02,160 discontinued in 2021, but Apple is trying again with the HomePod Mini, which is much cheaper at $99 40 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:06,640 and has sold much better than the original model. But if that doesn't work out, maybe we'll see, 41 00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:14,640 you know, a HomePod Nano Pro Max XS SE or something. We'll just have to wait and see. 42 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:18,240 So thanks for watching. If you liked this video, hit that like button. You can also dislike, 43 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:22,640 although it won't show anywhere. You can check out our other videos, probably to the side somewhere, 44 00:03:22,640 --> 00:03:27,520 they'll recommend some great ones, or even over my face. You can also comment with video suggestions, 45 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:29,120 and don't forget to get subscribed.