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Comment by jccalhoun | Hacker News Reader

It will be interesting to see how widely the homepod will be adopted and used in six months or a year because it looks like it is really only useful for people who are fully in the apple system. One report says you can't even set it up unless you have an ios device https://www.imore.com/should-you-buy-homepod

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Ugh, the seemingly intentional lack of support for Spotify and other streaming services makes me see red. It also strikes me as a pretty dumb business move. Someday soon, a company will release a $350 cylinder that sounds just as good as Apple's while supporting every standard service and interface — and at that point, why on earth would anyone get a Homepod?

Probably it's harder than you think to make a cylinder sound that good, plus Siri will do more over time. We'll see if it's a "dumb business move" to control the whole stack. It's worked out kind of ok for them so far.

For their main devices, sure, but what about Apple TV? I know far more people with Amazon and Google boxes than Apple ones. And stats seem to agree: http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/roku-apple-tv-chromecas...

In the "connected appliance" market, I believe openness is key.

Would this be open market where Google keeps killing YouTube compatibility with Amazon kit?

There’s more Android devices out there than iPhones too. Same story. Apple’s success has been about selling the best and most profitable products, not the most.

You will definitely know more people who own echoes than HomePods, at least for awhile. Echoes are cheap. Doesn’t mean it’s a “dumb business move” for Apple.

> you can't even set it up unless you have an ios device

So, only 700 million people can use this thing.[1] Dim prospects indeed.

[1] http://fortune.com/2017/03/06/apple-iphone-use-worldwide/

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