Apple's HomePod speaker was originally
planned for a December 2017 launch in the US market, however
Apple hadpostponed the
sortieof HomePod at the beginning of 2018, a launch which could have
place in
4-5 weeks according to the GBH firm.
Now here is another report which goes in the same direction, according to the
sources from The Taipei Times newspaper, the Inventec company which produces the
AirPods, but also the HomePod, would have senta first million
speakersto Apple for a launch which should not take long.
Inventec and Hon Hai Precision Industry are Apple's two subcontractors
who are in charge of manufacturing Apple's next new product, the
HomePod, which will have to face already well-established competitors with
Alexa d’Amazon et Google Home.
According to The Taipei Times, the Cupertino company has postponed the launch
of HomePod to be able to bringlast minute adjustments
to the softwarerotating the speaker.
One of the sources of the Asian newspaper which is close to the channels of
production estimates that Apple should sell approximately10 to 12 million
of unitsby the end of the year.
However, this is a difficult figure to estimate because it will be necessary to wait
the first tests by experts to see what the HomePod has in its belly and
if the general public is interested in this connected speaker which is all the same
much more expensive than competitors.
Apple, however, has relied on a different approach to the competition, in
promising much better sound quality than other speakers, plus
be able to use voice commands via Siri to control devices
compatibles HomeKit.
For the moment, as we saw at CES 2018,Amazon and Google have taken the
on it at the start of the yearon Apple in the popularity contest
platforms from manufacturers of connected devices and accessories.
Deputy editor-in-chief, also known under the pseudonym Teza. Former video games journalist, who has been immersed in tech and Apple products since his very first iPhone 3GS in 2009. He has since worked for several American tech sites and now for iPhon.fr. Incidentally YouTuber and Apple product specialist on the MobileAddict channel. To contact me: maxime[a]iphon.fr
