Apple has announced that the long awaited HomePod is ready to be shipped to the US, UK, and Australia. The Siri powered smart speaker will be available for preorder in these countries on 26 January, with the device itself hitting stores on 9 February.
The HomePod was announced back in June 2017 at Apple’s WWDC conference, where it stood out as a potential Google Home and Amazon Alexa competitor. Despite this, the device missed its December launch date. Nobody is entirely certain why the delay happened, and Apple has been rather quiet on the matter.
As far as anyone can tell, Apple simply decided to take its time to get the product working right. Instead, of rushing something to market.
HomePod works like other home assistants in that it uses an AI assistant to perform tasks for the user. It’s capable of playing music, perform internet searches, read emails, and send messages. The HomePod is also capable of controlling other devices and appliances that have been equipped with Apple’s HomeKit.
The Apple HomePod is set to be sold for $369 in its launch markets. It will also be appearing in Germany and France in the spring. There was no mention of other markets at the moment, but we presume that Apple will be add more countries over the rest of the year.
[Source: Apple]
