Just yesterday, we commented here on a not-so-good chance for Apple that sales of HomePod they would be very weak and discouraging. Then, some vehicles came to refute the information by citing data from the supply chain, which left everyone in doubt about the truth about the performance of the speaker.
Well, we still don't have an exact answer to the question, but if we consider the most recent note published by our old friend Ming-Chi Kuo, from KGI Securities, it seems that HomePod is not in the best of sheets and that Apple will have to move to bring about a turnaround in this scenario.
The analyst estimates that Apple will dispatch between 2 and 2.5 million of HomePod units throughout the year, with about 1 million of these copies delivered in the first month of sales, due to the repressed initial demand. The numbers are well below the forecasts of all analysts who tried to estimate the performance of the product before its release: the general consensus was that Apple would sell between 7 and 10 million units of HomePod throughout 2018.
Such performance "far below expectations", as Kuo put it, would be motivated by a main factor: price. The analyst stated that, even with excellent sound quality, the purchase price of the speaker would be driving away potential consumers, who do not see a positive cost / benefit ratio in the product. THE CrabFor example, it offers a “less inspiring” user experience that is far worse than that of competitors such as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa and does not work as an attraction, added Kuo.
Due to the supposed disappointment, the analyst further suggests that Apple would be considering the possibility of producing a cheaper version of HomePod, without specifying more details about the product or the actual chances of it materializing. However, Kuo added that even a “low cost” version of the speaker (in quotes because we all know that “low cost” is an expression unknown to Apple) would help sales only for a short period of time; if Apple really wants to give HomePod a touch, it needs to invest in improving its features, such as Siri and support for more languages.
And a: early to spike the success or failure of HomePod or are the signs already clear enough?
via iClarified
