Appl Insider

Audiophiles connected to the Apple ecosystem loved the original $350 HomePod for its best-in-class sound, but casual consumers passed on the pricey speaker, ultimately leading Apple to discontinue the hardware. That’s probably a bad sign for the $550 AirPods Max — here’s why.Apple officially announced last Friday evening East coast time that it was discontinuing the original HomePod, and will instead focus on the HomePod mini. The timing of that announcement was no coincidence — late on a Friday is when companies typically dump news they are somewhat embarrassed about, hoping that very few people will see it after they sign out of work and kick off their weekend.For a company that has seen so much success, the HomePod was a rare misstep, focused on a premium-sounding speaker that quite literally blew away the competition in sound quality, but at a price. Others in the space, like Amazon and Google, found more success with cheaper smart speakers more focused on being a personal assistant than an amazing sound system. Read more…

Source: Appl Insider