Apple 'HomePod' speaker to take on Amazon, Google

Apple will later this year release a "HomePod" music-centric smart home speaker, challenging a market currently dominated by Amazon and Google in its latest move to weave deeper into people's lives.

HomePod, aided by Apple's Siri digital assistant, will be priced at $349 when it begins shipping in December in the United States, Australia and Britain, the tech giant announced at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference.
 
"We really believe it is going to take your home music experience to the next level," Apple chief executive Tim Cook said as he unveiled it.
 
HomePod will take on lower priced Amazon Echo and Google Home, which have had momentum in the arena of voice-controlled speakers capable of controlling smart appliances, fetching content from the internet and more.
 
It is designed to work with the Apple Music subscription service and can produce rich sound while tapping into the artificial intelligence power of Siri.
 
Apple vice president Phil Schiller said the company's Siri team had tuned the assistant into a "musicologist" that learns the tastes of listeners and gets songs from the internet cloud.
 
The speaker has the "power to rock the house," according to Schiller, and the aim is to make HomePod a potent assistant for news, messages, weather, traffic, home controls and more.
         
HomePod capped a keynote presentation that included updates to Apple's iPad and Mac laptop lines, and upgraded operating software enabling augmented reality for iPhones and iPads.
 
Analysts said Apple is playing to its strength in the music industry by focusing on sound quality and its catalog of songs.
 
"Apple is smart to frame the HomePod as a music-centric and audio-centric...