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Apple event highlights the rise of the smart speaker

Fans wowed, investors less impressed, as Apple unveils new products.

Tue, 06 Jun 2017

Apple’s WorldWide Developer’s Conference this morning had got a lot stronger buzz on social media than some of its recent events.

I could see the attraction. A lot of that hardware and software looked great … but some of it was also overdue, perhaps reminding investors Apple is behind rivals in a couple of key areas.

The event took place while the Nasdaq was still open; Apple shares closed down 0.99% (the broader index was down 0.16%).

Apple’s biggest announcement was the HomePod, a speaker with a built-in virtual assistant (Siri) that will sell for $US349 from December.

The Wall Street Journal says Amazon has already sold $1 billion worth of product in its Echo smart speaker range, which utilises the company’s virtual assistant Alexa.

Google Home is nipping at its heels.

About 36 million Americans will use a voice-enabled speaker at least once a month this year – more than twice as many as a year ago – according to eMarketer, a market-research firm (and it will be mostly Americans. Amazon and Google’s smart speakers are only sold inside the US, though quite a few Kiwis have DIY-imported one or the other. Both get good marks for coping with the Kiwi accent).

I’m watching a bit of US television at the moment (via Hulu on Apple TV), and Amazon Echo and Google Home ads are on very high-rotate. Sales seem to be taking off, and you can see why Apple is keen to get into this area as smartphone sales plateau.

While Amazon and Google promote their speakers as butlers – you can ask them a question or order a service – basically, anything you can do via voice commands on your smartphone, Apple seems to be pitching HomePod as the smart speaker that sounds good, too. Respected US reviewer Harry McCracken says it does sound pretty good for a speaker of its size too – at least in Apple’s demo.

Apple-Amazon truce
Although the two companies will soon be at war in the speaker market, they seem to have reached a detente on other fronts.

Apple said today that there will soon be an Apple TV app for Amazon’s Prime Video service (the new home of the show formerly known as Top Gear).

And although there has been no official announcement, US media says Apple products will return to Amazon’s home page, after a two-year absence, as a quid pro quo.

Apple Music a big business
WWDC also saw the announcement that the Apple Music service now has 27 million paying subscribers — up from 20 million in December and 13 million a little more than one year ago.

$US9.99 (cheapest monthly plan) x 27 million subs = $US270m per month or around $US3.2 billion per year.

And that's on top of however many songs Apple sells through iTunes.

The music business is alive an well — just in differences that it used to be.

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Apple event highlights the rise of the smart speaker
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