Apple HomePod Smart Speaker Goes Up for Pre-Orders This Friday, Hits Stores February 9

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Apple HomePod Smart Speaker Goes Up for Pre-Orders This Friday, Hits Stores February 9

Apple said Tuesday its HomePod speaker, the digital assistant device challenging rivals from

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and

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, was now ready after a delay of several months.

HomePod, which missed the key holiday shopping season in the fast-growing market for connected speakers, will be available for pre-order Friday and in stores February 9 in the US, Britain and Australia.

A statement said it would hit markets in France and Germany “this spring.”

Apple is arriving late to a market dominated by

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’s Alexa-powered devices and to a lesser degree

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Home, which includes voice-activated devices that can answer questions and be a smart home hub.

The iPhone maker, however, is seeking to position HomePod, powered by its Siri digital assistant, as a high-end device designed for music as well as other services. It starts at $349 (roughly Rs. 22,200), making it more expensive than most competing speakers.

“HomePod is a magical new music experience from Apple,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of marketing.

“It brings advanced audio technologies like beam-forming tweeters, a high-excursion woofer and automatic spatial awareness, together with the entire Apple Music catalogue and the latest Siri intelligence, in a simple, beautiful design that is so much fun to use.”

While

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and

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have released no specific sales figures, private surveys indicate

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has grabbed the lion’s share of the market with

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a distant second.

The market is also seeing new devices powered by

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’s digital assistant Cortana and Samsung is set to launch devices with its Bixby assistant.

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#Apple #HomePod #Smart #Speaker #PreOrders #Friday #Hits #Stores #February

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