• About Us
    • — About Digitized House
    • — Advertise
    • — Editorial Guidelines
  • Policies
    • — Ad Policy
    • — Privacy Policy
    • — Cookie Policy (US)
Digitized House | Guide to the Connected Home
  • Home
  • Connect Your Home
    • Deals
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Security Cameras
    • Security Systems
    • Smart Displays
    • Smart Door Locks
    • Smart Lighting
    • Smart Plugs
    • Smart Product Round-ups
    • Smart Speakers
    • Smart Thermostats
    • Smart Water
    • Smoke + CO Detectors
    • Solar Photovoltaics
    • Window Coverings
    • Connected Home and Gadget Resources
  • Ecosystems
    • Amazon Alexa
    • Apple HomeKit
    • Google Assistant
    • SmartThings
    • Open Systems
  • Design Your Home
    • Architecture
    • Healthy Home
    • Home Design
    • How-To
    • Green Building
    • Real Estate
    • Sustainable Home
No Result
View All Result
Digitized House | Guide to the Connected Home
  • Home
  • Connect Your Home
    • Deals
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Security Cameras
    • Security Systems
    • Smart Displays
    • Smart Door Locks
    • Smart Lighting
    • Smart Plugs
    • Smart Product Round-ups
    • Smart Speakers
    • Smart Thermostats
    • Smart Water
    • Smoke + CO Detectors
    • Solar Photovoltaics
    • Window Coverings
    • Connected Home and Gadget Resources
  • Ecosystems
    • Amazon Alexa
    • Apple HomeKit
    • Google Assistant
    • SmartThings
    • Open Systems
  • Design Your Home
    • Architecture
    • Healthy Home
    • Home Design
    • How-To
    • Green Building
    • Real Estate
    • Sustainable Home
No Result
View All Result
Digitized House | Guide to the Connected Home
No Result
View All Result
Home Amazon Alexa

Apple HomePod: Missing card from HomeKit smart-home deck?

Tom Kolnowski by Tom Kolnowski
6 June 2017
in Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Connected Home, News, Review, Smart Speakers
Reading Time: 4 mins read
Apple HomePod speaker
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Aiming to be more than a me-too response to the Amazon Echo and Google Home speakers, Apple has played its hand in the voice-activated speaker game in the form of the HomePod, a wireless speaker system announced at the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose. Slated to begin shipping in December 2017 initially for Australia, the UK, and the US, the $349 USD home speaker will be available in white and space gray colors and has a cylindrical 7-in form factor that more closely resembles the Sonos Play:1 speaker rather than the elongated cylinder of the original Amazon Echo or the more angular lines characteristic of Google Home.

Apple HomePod will meld audio fidelity with Siri voice activation features when it launches in December 2017.

Apple HomePod will meld audio fidelity with Siri voice activation features when it launches in December 2017.

Building on Apple HomeKit through Siri

As anticipated, Apple HomePod will be powered by the ever-evolving Apple Siri digital assistant, and brings wide-field voice activation capabilities and Amazon Alexa-like commands to the home, a boon for homeowners with Apple HomeKit automation accessories—as they will no longer be limited to using Siri, the Apple Home app, and other HomeKit-compatible apps on iOS mobile devices for controlling their homes.  An array of six microphones on HomePod enable the dictation of multi-directional, across-the-room voice commands. Those commands will begin with “Hey, Siri.” For example, “Hey, Siri. Lock the front door,” could be executed from your armchair if the home is equipped with a HomeKit-compatible smart door lock.

More Original Content FromDigitized House

Kohler H2Wise+ Marks Rise of the Water Network

How Smart Tech Drives Sustainable Home Decisions

Smart Housing’s Promise for Rural Development

Healthier Smart Home Air Filtration: Aura Air Review

Smart Tech Helping Build Sustainable Homes

For consumers of Apple HomeKit smart-home automation accessories, HomePod facilitates wide-field voice activation features and can act as a HomeKit hub.

For consumers of Apple HomeKit smart-home automation accessories, HomePod facilitates wide-field voice activation features and can act as a HomeKit hub.

And as a further smart-home benefit, HomePod will also function as a HomeKit home hub, which will enable higher levels of scene automation and control of devices when away from the home. Currently, setting up a HomeKit hub requires an Apple TV 4th generation set-top box or an iOS 10-compatible iPad to be always-on in the home.

Going after Sonos on multi-room audio

But Apple is obviously touting the audiophile-quality sound reproduction capabilities of HomePod, and toward that goal plans to elevate the voice-activated speaker genre to higher levels of audio fidelity by incorporating an Apple-designed 4-inch woofer and seven tweeters into the enclosure. Designed to work with an Apple Music subscription (the company says over 40 million songs can be accessed from Apple Music), HomePod also incorporates automatic room-sensing technology to optimize audio quality based on the location of the speaker in the room. Additionally, when the speakers are used in pairs they automatically detect the presence of a second speaker and auto-balance the setup for optimum audio delivery quality.

So the resemblance to a Sonos speaker here goes beyond the obvious visual cues: Apple is clearly taking aim at multi-room audio streaming, though the Sonos ecosystem will likely continue to offer a much broader array of music services to select from—an extremely broad spectrum of music that already includes Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify, and more. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over time.

The three primary competitors for the Apple HomePod already in our smart-home labs: Google Home, Sonos Play:1, and Amazon Echo.

The three primary competitors for the Apple HomePod already in our smart-home labs: Google Home, Sonos Play:1, and Amazon Echo.

Leveling voice-activation in the smart-home field

Apple HomePod will likely fill a smart-home chasm on voice activation that has opened with the dawn of the Amazon Echo and Google Home speakers, as consumers of Apple HomeKit devices have largely been left behind in the ability to voice-control their homes from across the room—though solutions from companies like iDevices have driven considerable progress on that front by integrating HomeKit accessories with the Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant services. By playing the HomePod card with the Siri assistant, Apple will attempt to level the playing field on voice activation for the smart-home domain and breathe new life into HomeKit accessories.

More about this topic:

Apple HomePod press release on Apple website

Apple iOS 10 elevates HomeKit via Home app and hubs

iDevices bridges Apple HomeKit and Amazon Alexa worlds

Google Home and WiFi raise smart-home stakes

Digitized.House Magazine

Tags: Apple HomePodApple iOSApple iPadApple iPhoneconnected homeconnected livingconsumer electronicsdomestic technologygear & gadgetshome automationInternet of Thingsnon-affiliate . apple homekit home hub
Previous Post

ENTR smart door lock garners international smart-home award

Next Post

Austin green gems: 2017 Cool House Tour venue preview

Tom Kolnowski

Tom Kolnowski

Tom Kolnowski is the Chief Content Officer & Founder of Digitized House Media, LLC, the publisher of Digitized House | Guide to the Connected Home. When he isn’t writing about smart home technology, sustainability, and high-performance architecture, you’ll find him exploring faraway destinations with his family.

Related Posts

Kohler H2Wise+ Smart Home Water Monitor. Image: Digitized House Media.
Review

Kohler H2Wise+ Marks Rise of the Water Network

9 June 2022

Kohler Company recently expanded its smart home portfolio with the Kohler H2Wise+ water monitor, a system designed to surveil a...

The Google Nest Hub displaying home energy data for a Reliant Energy customer. Image: Digitized House.
Sustainable Home

How Smart Tech Drives Sustainable Home Decisions

18 April 2022

Most people try to do their part to cut down on carbon and help save the planet. From recycling to...

A sunset in rural America, specifically in Driftwood, Texas. Image: Digitized House Media.
Connected Home

Smart Housing’s Promise for Rural Development

7 March 2022

Although we are living in the great age of technology, the so-called digital divide is very real, and it continues...

Next Post
Image courtesy of Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture.

Austin green gems: 2017 Cool House Tour venue preview

TreeHouse Dallas opens its doors.

TreeHouse opens its emerald aisles to Dallas

Nest Cam IQ

Nest Cam IQ raises ante on home interior security

As an Amazon Associate, Digitized House may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links, ads, or buttons on this page. See our full Affiliate Link, Sponsorship, and Ad Policy.

About Us

Digitized House is the Guide to the Connected Home.

We help global consumers make their 
Connected Homes smarter, healthier, safer, and 
more sustainable through streams of original content. You can see our story here.

Like what you see on this website? You can also read us on our Apple News App Channel.

More Info

  • About Us
    • — About Digitized House
    • — Advertise
    • — Editorial Guidelines
  • Policies
    • — Ad Policy
    • — Privacy Policy
    • — Cookie Policy (US)

Affiliate Disclosure

As an Amazon Associate, Digitized House may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links, ads, or buttons on this page. See our full Affiliate Link, Sponsorship, and Ad Policy.

Recent Content

Kohler H2Wise+ Marks Rise of the Water Network

How Smart Tech Drives Sustainable Home Decisions

6 Steps to Furnishing Your Space Sustainably Without Compromising Aesthetics 

Smart Housing’s Promise for Rural Development

Healthier Smart Home Air Filtration: Aura Air Review

Smart Tech Helping Build Sustainable Homes

© 2015-2022 Digitized House Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Connect Your Home
    • Deals
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Security Cameras
    • Security Systems
    • Smart Displays
    • Smart Door Locks
    • Smart Lighting
    • Smart Plugs
    • Smart Product Round-ups
    • Smart Speakers
    • Smart Thermostats
    • Smart Water
    • Smoke + CO Detectors
    • Solar Photovoltaics
    • Window Coverings
    • Connected Home and Gadget Resources
  • Ecosystems
    • Amazon Alexa
    • Apple HomeKit
    • Google Assistant
    • SmartThings
    • Open Systems
  • Design Your Home
    • Architecture
    • Healthy Home
    • Home Design
    • How-To
    • Green Building
    • Real Estate
    • Sustainable Home
  • About Us + Policies
    • About Us
    • Advertise
    • Editorial Guidelines
    • Ad Policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy (US)

© 2015-2022 Digitized House Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional cookies Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}