Apple says goodbye to the HomePod

In a movement that has surprised everyone, Apple just confirmed that its higher-quality smart speaker, the HomePod, will be discontinued as soon as current stocks run out.

Apple has given us good morning this Saturday with completely unexpected news: it announces that it is canceling the HomePod. The first smart speaker that the company launched back in June 2017, although it did not begin to be sold until January 2018, will no longer be available for purchase in official stores as soon as the available stock in Apple stores runs out. That does not mean that it is completely abandoned, because Apple has announced that it will continue with its updates. and software level improvements.

HomePod, one I want and I can't

From the first moment the HomePod was involved in the classic controversies of Apple's launches. A sound quality beyond any doubt, but an assistant with many limitations and a high price, much higher than products that the competition offers us, with lower sound quality, true, but more features at the software level. However, the Cupertino company has been improving its speaker with software updates that were giving it new capabilities, although at a slower pace than users wanted. In fact, speech recognition is not yet available in languages ​​other than English.

To this was added some very important limitations at the beginning that have marked the entire trajectory of the HomePod. Being closed to the Apple ecosystem greatly limited the users who could get the most out of it. The HomePod started out completely closed to Apple products and services, and although with the passage of time some doors have been opened, such as third-party music services, again the slowness in the development of these features ended with the patience of many users who have never seen the HomePod as a real alternative to others competitive products.

The HomePod mini is the future for Apple

Apple has said that they are going to focus on the development of the HomePod mini, that is, that it does not abandon smart speakers, and that is great news. The HomePod's little “brother” has practically the same functions, however it has two advantages that have made it a much more interesting product for users. The first of them is, without any doubt, its price. The sound quality and performance of this HomePod mini are much more interesting with a price of € 99 than with the € 329 that the original HomePod costs. Obviously it has lower power and lower sound quality, but enough for most of those looking for a smart speaker for their living room or bedroom. You can even buy two and pair them in stereo, and you're still a long way from the price of the big HomePod.

The second advantage is that it was born with a long way to go by the original HomePod. That means that it does not carry all its history. Despite the fact that as I said before, they are almost identical in functionality, the HomePod mini was launched with that functionality already active, therefore it does not have the labels of "dumb assistant", "limited", "closed"… That the HomePod was long-won and will never get rid of it despite improvements.

Maybe it's better to start from scratch

The decision to retire the HomePod is surprising, but if we think about it, it may have its logic. The $ 99 HomePod mini has shown that there is plenty of room for Apple in the smart speaker market, just not more than € 300. Renewing the original HomePod and starting to sell it at € 200 would be a step that many would not understand, nor would it make sense to launch a new smart speaker with similar sound quality and with better features at a lower price, keeping the HomePod in the catalog. At this point, and after demonstrating the HomePod mini that the original HomePod strategy has been wrong, perhaps it is best to start from scratch.

Anyway, do not sound alarms: the HomePod will continue to receive support from Apple with software updates. In fact, just a few months ago, it gained the ability to link with Apple TV to create your Home Theater, which the HomePod mini cannot do. The HomePod will stop selling, but it still has a lot of life ahead of it, and to those of us who still have many hours of music enjoying it.