HomePod Predictions

I’ve been thinking about the HomePod, and what it may be like to have one when it comes out in 2018.

I’ve also been thinking about my AirPods, which I’ve had for about 6 months now. I knew having wireless earbuds would be nice, but I didn’t predict I would love them as much as I honestly do.

People ask me about them a lot because I always have them in. They’re super convenient, always charged, and while you’re wearing the AirPods, you can’t even feel them in your ears. For me, it’s like music just being summoned out of nothing.

The AirPods really are a great product, and that’s largely because they play to Apple’s strengths. They’re small, battery operated, and packed with sensors. They have the money, engineers, and know how to make industry leading wireless earbuds.

So ya, with the HomePod, I can’t help but think Apple is trying to create a product that complements AirPods. (They share the same “Pod” suffix after all.)

I’d love to see HomePod be just as delightful as AirPods are. An example of a way they could do that would be by designing the device in such a way that it becomes just a joy to interact with. If they can make the HomePod easy, satisfying, and useful then that already makes it a winner.

We have a Google Home cannister in the living room, and one of my favourite things about it is the personality that the device shows through the colourful LED lights that flash on the top of it. HomePod’s got a similar idea going on, but HomePod’s looks much more beautiful. I can’t wait to see that tiny diffused LCD have some cool motion graphics displayed on it - and hopefully other information as well. Though it’s pretty obvious we won’t be seeing any text on it, I think that they could use it in some clever ways.

Though I’ve heard lots of people talking ill of the new smart speaker, I personally am a fan of the physical design of the HomePod. I like the form of it, and the pattern of the speaker grill is mesmerising. If I get a first generation HomePod, I’ll be purchasing the white option.

My thoughts on the subject are a little jumbled - I like the Google Home speaker, but it seriously pissses me off when it doesn’t get a song right, or fucks up my timers. Which happens often. If Apple gets HomePod right, I can’t wait to see where the line goes. I’m imagining HomePod version 3, or 4. And if you look at IPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch - those three product lines were significantly more advanced in their third or fourth generation than in their respective debuts.

Apple just needs to do what it does best; launch, and iterate.