Dieter Bohn, The Verge:
Today, Apple finally announced a shipping date for its smart speaker, the HomePod. And something about the launch of this Apple music device reminds me of the launch of that other Apple music device, the iPod.
“No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame,” said Rob “CmdrTaco” Malda on Slashdot on October 1st, 2001. (The Nomad, if you’re wondering, was a pre-iPod MP3 player that was the size and shape of a Sony Discman in its early incarnations. So.) At the time, Slashdot was the most important online community for talking about tech. And at the time, tech news meant for discussion (a lot of Linux) was posted with brief news snippets submitted by readers, snarky one-liners from the people who posted, and even snarkier tags. The iPod came “from the well-thats-not-very-exciting dept.”
Here’s a link to that canonical iPod review.
Good analogy, comparing the HomePod launch to the iPod launch. Will HomePod succeed? I suspect we’ll see at least enough success to justify the effort, given that Apple is selling into a pool of about 30 million Apple Music subscribers.
If things go well, the enthusiasm of the HomePod enjoyers will help bring more people into the Apple Music fold. Seems a reasonable bet for Apple.
Yeah, that conversation thread is the gift that keeps on giving. Neckbeards unite!
just goes to show how little the techie echo chamber people get. theyre unable to empathize with others and confuse their personal preferences for what makes sense for normals
The huge difference is that the iPod was competing against products that stunk. The HomePod is coming to market against products that don’t stink and people like (sonos, echo, google home, etc.).
Imagine their resentment when they realized, in later years, that far fewer normals were still asking for their advice on tech.
People liked Nomads, too.
I hardly view the Echos as pillars of quality. Digital assistants first, cheap speakers second. Apple is going the other way round — quality speaker first, digital assistant second.
you’re honestly trying to imagine how the HP is going to produce a similar product category/success as the iPod? hint: it won’t. It’s not supposed to. It’s a wireless shelf speaker that sounds great, and has access to your music and Siri. Part of the walled garden, sounds great.
Those who heard it demoed at WWDC said it sounded better than Sonos.
also make clear, Amazon hasn’t locked down gimmicky digital assistants at all.