The following update was sent to members on August 24th.

Hello everyone. A good way to get back into the swing of things is to talk more about HomePod. The discussion will include a look at the latest earnings report from Sonos and a broader theory of mine regarding smart speakers.

Let’s jump right in.

Revisiting the HomePod Discontinuation

The most recent Above Avalon Report was dedicated to Apple’s HomePod discontinuation, a decision that is still surrounded by many unanswered questions.

In a development that likely deserves its own report, we have seen Apple very recently go down the path of discontinuing a few products (iMac Pro / iPod). While each discontinuation has its own story and surrounding circumstances (the company did embrace a product strategy shift a few years back), the HomePod discontinuation stands out to me as being the most peculiar.

Member reactions to the report came in swiftly. Some agreed with my experience that the HomePod was a very impressive product – one of the most impressive Apple has shipped in years. Others raised concerns with how their HomePod(s) produced a feeling of “never [being] in control of the device.” Additional issues cited included connectivity problems, headaches with needing to restart and update the units, and just an overall uncharacteristic unevenness in experiences. That last item is interesting as the HomePod, in addition to the HomePod mini, are indeed different products when thinking of how they are designed to be used in communal settings while Apple Watch, AirPods, iPhone, etc. are designed for one-to-one settings.

One comment in particular though stood out to me.

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