David Hanak The American analytical company Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), which focuses on market analysis, has published a new report in which it reveals information about how smart speakers are sold in the US. According to their data, it looks like Apple's HomePod is a big sales flop.
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Amaya Toman The data comes from the second quarter of this year, and according to them there were roughly 76 million smart speakers in the US at that time. HomePod was represented by only 5% of this amount. The rest were mainly taken care of by Apple's biggest competitors in this industry, i.e. Google, Amazon.
Amazon still holds the record for the number of smart speakers sold. Amazon Echo accounts for 70% of total sales in this segment. In second place is Google with its Google Home, which is represented by roughly 25%. The rest belongs to Apple.
Sales of smart speakers in the US market are growing steadily. Year-on-year sales volume increased by more than 50%, making it one of the fastest growing segments of consumer electronics.
Google and Amazon owe their growth mainly to cheap models, which logically sell far more than the relatively expensive HomePod. That's why the whole comparison is a bit unfair, since Apple doesn't have a product that would push sales up. A $299 product simply won't sell as much as the much cheaper alternative (Echo Dot, Google Home Mini). In addition, HomePod is even more specifically focused than standard smart speakers.
Apple is aware of the HomePod's difficult position, and according to some indications from recent months, it looks like a more affordable model is in the works. Its price could be roughly halved, which would certainly be reflected in a larger volume of devices sold. However, it is not yet clear when we will see such a product. In addition, the HomePod itself is a fairly exclusive item considering the markets in which it is sold. Since the start of sales, distribution has expanded beyond English-speaking countries, for example in the Czech Republic, however, it is not possible to get HomePod from official distribution. Given that Apple sells HomePod only in countries where Siri is localized, we will probably never see an official sale in the Czech Republic. And if so, we will have to communicate with the HomePod in other languages.
Source: Macrumors
HomePod is standard in Alza's menu, so I wouldn't have a hard time about the local "official unavailability". Anyone who wants it will simply buy it. What more could you want? Sure, Siri in Czech, but that's a slightly different song. Anyone who wants to can use Siri in English on it (and on all Apple things in general).
I've been in the Apple area for a very long time, I know a lot of Applists who have Macs, iPhones, iPads and everything possible from Apple, I also know several developers... But none of them bought such useless and pointless crap like the HomePod...