The HomePod was introduced as a speaker that is also a smart device. Users can ask Apple's voice assistant, Siri, to play music from Apples music service, send a message, set a timer, play a podcast, check the news, sports, traffic and weather, and even control a wide range of HomeKit smart home accessories. In the future HomePods can be linked together for stereo sound and to play music throughout the home.
Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing stated, “HomePod is a magical new music experience from Apple. It brings advanced audio technologies like beam-forming tweeters, a high-excursion woofer and automatic spatial awareness, together with the entire Apple Music catalog and the latest Siri intelligence, in a simple, beautiful design that is so much fun to use. We’re so excited for people to get HomePod into their homes, apartments and businesses to hear it for themselves. We think they will be blown away by the audio quality. The team has worked to give Siri a deeper knowledge of music so that you can ask to play virtually anything from your personal favorites to the latest chart-topping releases, simply by saying ‘Hey Siri.’”
Competitors in the market are Amazon's Echo and Google Home, both at lower price points and first on the market with satellite devices already available.