Google Home

A topic I have mentioned previously: shopping on Google Home. This is more available in US currently but I see Google bringing it to the UK soon.

"EBAY CEO: Get used to shopping with your voice"---they work with Google Home in US.

CapGemini reports that today 25% of those surveyed would prefer to use a voice assistant such as Google Home and/or Amazon Echo for shopping, in preference to a website. They see this jumping to 40% in 3 years.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/23/ebay-ceo-get-used-to-shopping-with-your-voice.html
 
sesevans said:
Anyone rushing out to buy Apple's HomePod for £ 319, shipping next month?

For that price you can buy multiple numbers of Google Home!
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I noticed how you didn’t compare the price to the Home Max, you know the speaker that is more expensive than the HomePod and will very likely sound worse?
 
hmm.

Home max is more expensive but it's bigger (more internal volume for the speakers) and it has two of them vs the homepod's 1 - i'm not sure how it's very likely to sound worse?. The homeppod might have 7 tweeters but unless you sit that thing in the middle of a room then it's unlikely to make any real difference. Home Max has google assistant and access to multiple music services. Apple has what? siri and apple music?

of course sesevans made that comparison on purpose just to bolster his point, but if i'm comparing the $349 homepod against the $399 home max then it's the home max that looks a better product to me. And as for sesevans point, Apple need only bring out a cheaper version to compete with the standard Home, but then Apple isnt really aiming at the same demographics as Google. Google are all about the AI, Apple is focusing on the music side of things with siri on top. They're aimed at different users, really.
 
I had to laugh when Apple said they are aiming it at audiophiles (I think that was their term, if not they alluded to it).

Surely an audiophile would be someone with a hifi separates set-up and wouldn't go near a mini powered speaker like that (or any of these assistant speakers). This is exactly the reason it was pointless for me to buy a Google Home (standard) as my Mini is simply used to interact with the Assistant - to cast music etc. to my hifi.
 
From SeekingAlpha today:
"
Google Home now stands at 14M installed units
Jan. 26, 2018 1:09 PM ET


Google Home now has an installed base of 14M units, according to estimates from research firm CIRP.

Amazon Echo speakers have an installed base of 31M which gives the Alexa-enabled line a 69% market share compared to Google’s 31%.

As of September, the market shares were 76% Amazon and 24% for Google. The Google Home Mini drove Google's gains since the budget-friendly device accounted for 40% of Home device sales in the holiday quarter."

Keep in mind that Amazon began selling Echo two years before Google introduced Google Home.
 
Could you at least pretend not to be paid to promote google stuff?

There’s tons of positive feedback on the HomePod out there with constructive feedback regarding the negatives.

The story you choose is someone not getting one because they don’t actually use Apple’s services.

https://www.engadget.com/amp/2018/01/26/apple-homepod-2018-release/

https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/26/up-close-with-apples-homepod/amp/

https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/apple-homepod-listening-test-one-may-not-be-enough/

https://amp.tomsguide.com/us/apple-homepod-review-roundup,news-26520.html

The HomePod is designed to be an extension of the Apple ecosystem.

Also why would Sonos be running a deal at the moment if the HomePod wasn’t any good?
 
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Broken Hope said:
.......

The story you choose is someone not getting one because they don’t actually use Apple’s services.

.........
The HomePod is designed to be an extension of the Apple ecosystem.

Also why would Sonos be running a deal at the moment if the HomePod wasn’t any good?
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The writer owned iPhones in the past and said Siri was very disappointing. He owns a Mac Book Air laptop.

There are many people who have some Apple equipment(ie, in the "Apple ecosystem"), but use a variety of third party services. The writer uses GMail and some other Google apps, Spotify, to name a few. That is not unusual surely, yet still be considered part of the "Apple ecosystem".

Why would Sonos be running a promotion now? It is January, post Christmas when much buying activity is already done, and assuming the HomePad at least raises awareness of smart voice assistants, Sonos wants to be in the frame when a decision to buy is made.
 
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sesevans said:
The writer owned iPhones in the past and said Siri was very disappointing. He owns a Mac Book Air laptop.

There are many people who have some Apple equipment(ie, in the "Apple ecosystem"), but use a variety of third party services. The writer uses GMail and some other Google apps, Spotify, to name a few. That is not unusual surely, yet still be considered part of the "Apple ecosystem".

Why would Sonos be running a promotion now? It is January, post Christmas when much buying activity is already done, and assuming the HomePad at least raises awareness of smart voice assistants, Sonos wants to be in the frame when a decision to buy is made.
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Just a coincidence that the 2 Sonos speakers are a similar price to a HomePod right?

The HomePod is designed around an Apple user that’s all in, they use iCloud mail, Apple notes, Apple reminders, Apple calendar, Apple Music etc.

For that type of user the HomePod will work very well.

Apple isn’t pretending to be a google home or Alexa competitor. Not at the price the HomePod is launching at.

Just owning Apple equipment but not using any of their services doesn’t make you part of the Apple ecosystem.
 
A few observations from this DigiTimes link to the smart speaker chip segment:

1. Global demand for the smart voice assistant speaker is expected to grow from 30 million units in 2017 to 50 million in 2018 and 80 million by 2020.

2. Consumer adoption of smart assistance will be for "consumer products, mobile devices, household electric appliances, as well as smart home, cloud service, IoT, AI (artificial intelligence) and automotive electronics applications".

3. "Taiwan's MediaTek is a leading player in the segment (CPU chips, audio chips, wired and wireless connection chips and power management chips)". These chips enable "clearer and faster voice signal decoding, compression and transmission to allow better voice recognition and upgrade user experience in voice command."

4. "Industry sources said that .... the low entry barrier for chipmakers is likely to turn the market into a "red ocean" overnight amid increasingly fierce competition expected among global IC designers."

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20180131PD210.html
 
Nice to see an Amazon Alexa ad on the superbowl and yet nothing from Google about the Home.
 
sesevans said:
If I recall correctly, Google plastered every inch of available space for Google Home at the recent CES in Las Vegas. Amazon was more of a no-show.
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Who cares if they were advertising at CES, I think Amazon being plastered over the superbowl reached out to more audience than a niche show in Las Vegas.

This is part of the problem Apple & Amazon know how to advertise, Google are just completely poor at it.
 
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