Just a few words on Apple's HomePod
HomePod is Apple's smart speaker. It was announced the most recently (June 5th, 2017) and released in early 2018. Apple claimed that it delayed the release as it was investing its efforts in unique speaker capabilities. Without a doubt, the HomePod speakers are far better than the others. However, with a substantially higher cost ($350 compared to $30-$80 for its competitors), together with its minimal functionality, HomePod is losing the fight.
Many people claim that Apple, which pioneered the voice market with Siri, has ended up missing out on the smart speakers market. Apparently, having Siri, Apple's voicebot, spread out on every iOS device wasn't a good enough springboard to take over the market for smart speakers from the beginning. That's okay because Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, claims that Apple cares less about being the first and cares more about being the best. However, even after its release, critics were much less enthusiastic about HomePod. While...