Apple’s Late HomePod Start Will Land It Just 10% Share in Smart Speakers, Says Report

Apple’s much-heralded HomePod introduction will land the company 10 percent market share this year, said Strategy Analytics in a Wednesday report. Apple is hoping its “music-first” approach will help HomePod make “inroads into Amazon and Google's early market lead,” it said. But Apple “starts a long way behind its rivals in the smart speaker market and faces a significant challenge when it comes to taking consumer mindshare away from Amazon and Google,” it said. “Amazon and Google are rapidly building their presence in the home thanks to their collaborative and open-source approach. Apple risks either missing out completely on the lucrative connected home market or at best becoming a niche player unless it urgently refocuses investment on improving its AI [artificial intelligence] assistant capabilities and significantly broadens its HomeKit ecosystem."