Apple Aims to Boost HomePod Sales With New Audio Software Lead
Apple has hired a new software lead for the HomePod team as part of an effort to better compete with smart home speakers from Amazon and Google, reports Bloomberg.
The Syng Cell Alpha
Afrooz Family, an audio engineer who worked at Apple from 2012 to 2016, has rejoined the company and is leading software development on the HomePod/Apple TV team. Family co-founded speaker company Syng alongside former Apple design team member Christoper Stringer. Syng is known for the super expensive Cell Alpha, which boasts "triphonic" audio technology that's able to create an immersive, dynamic sound field.
Apple has struggled to get the HomePod to catch on since its launch in 2018. The initial version of the speaker was priced at $350 and boasted higher-quality audio than competitors, but it was just not as popular as much more affordable smart speaker options from Samsung and Google.
The original HomePod was discontinued earlier this year with Apple instead opting to focus on the $99 HomePod mini, which is smaller and much more appealing due to its lower price tag.
Going forward, Apple plans to create a combined HomePod, Apple TV, and FaceTime device that will serve as an all-in-one entertainment option. According to Bloomberg, such a device could be released as early as 2023.
Related Stories
Alongside iOS 15.2, Apple today released a new 15.2 software update for the HomePod and the HomePod mini.
The HomePod 15.2 software adds support for the $4.99 per month Apple Music Voice Plan, a Siri-based option for listening to Apple Music on HomePod and other devices.Software version 15.2 includes support for Apple Music Voice Plan, a new subscription tier designed to access music using...
Apple has added Dutch language voice recognition support for Siri in the latest HomePod 15.4 beta, further preparing the HomePod mini for release in the Netherlands in the near future.
The addition of voice recognition, spotted by iCulture, means HomePod or HomePod mini will be able to identify who is talking to it in a Dutch-speaking multi-person household so they can make personal requests ...
Apple was planning to launch an updated HomePod in 2022, prior to discontinuing the original HomePod, according to reliable Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman.
The original HomePod was announced in 2017, representing Apple's first foray into the competitive smart speaker market. The HomePod was never replaced with an updated model, despite the HomePod mini launching with new ultra-wideband...
Apple remains "largely absent" in the U.S. smart speaker market while Amazon and Google continue to dominate, according to data gathered by Consumer Research Intelligence Partners (CIRP).
Since 2017, Amazon has been the dominant company in the smart speaker market, with over two-thirds of smart speakers in U.S. homes being Amazon devices. Google holds about a one-quarter share of smart...
Apple today released a new beta version of the HomePod 15 software, and it appears that the update introduces Lossless Audio support for the HomePod and the HomePod mini.
Back in June, Apple added higher-quality Lossless Audio and Spatial Audio support to Apple Music, but at launch, Lossless Audio was not available on the HomePod or the HomePod mini. Apple in a support document clarified...
Apple today started taking orders for the HomePod mini in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland for the first time, as spotted by iCulture.
Apple said earlier this month that it would make the HomePod mini available to order in the above countries by the end of March, but never gave a specific release date. The speaker also gained support for languages spoken in those countries as part...
Amazon continues to lead the market for smart speakers and smart screens with devices like the Echo Dot and Echo Show, but Apple has nearly doubled its market share in this segment thanks to the HomePod mini, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
Strategy Analytics estimates that Apple shipped 4 million smart speakers in the third quarter of 2021, taking a 10.2% share of the...
Alongside iOS 15.4, iPadOS 15.4, and tvOS 15.4, Apple today released a new 15.4 update that's available for the HomePod and the HomePod mini. The 15.4 update is the fourth major HomePod software update since version 15 was released, and it comes more than a month after the launch of HomePod software 15.3.
The HomePod 15.4 software update brings support for captive WiFi networks, so that...
Popular Stories
The redesigned MacBook Air with the all-new M2 Apple silicon chip will be available for customers starting Friday, July 15, MacRumors has learned from a retail source. The new MacBook Air was announced and previewed during WWDC earlier this month, with Apple stating availability will begin in July. The MacBook Air features a redesigned body that is thinner and lighter than the previous...
Apple today began selling refurbished Mac Studio models for the first time in the United States, Canada, and select European countries, such as Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
In the United States, two refurbished Mac Studio configurations are currently available, including one with the M1 Max chip (10-core CPU and 24-core GPU) for...
The M2 MacBook Pro has started making its way into customers' hands and we're learning more about how it performs in a variety of situations, but all eyes are really on the upcoming M2 MacBook Air which has seen a complete redesign and should be arriving in a couple of weeks.
Other top stories this week included a host of product rumors including additional M2 and even M3 Macs, an updated...
Fifteen years ago to this day, the iPhone, the revolutionary device presented to the world by the late Steve Jobs, officially went on sale.
The first iPhone was announced by Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, and went on sale on June 29, 2007. "An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator... these are not three separate devices," Jobs famously said. "Today, Apple is going to reinvent the...
There appears to be a serious bug in macOS High Sierra that enables the root superuser on a Mac with a blank password and no security check. The bug, discovered by developer Lemi Ergin, lets anyone log into an admin account using the username "root" with no password. This works when attempting to access an administrator's account on an unlocked Mac, and it also provides access at the login...
Top Rated Comments