https://medium.com/@andreplaut/forget-homepod-how-apple-should-take-on-the-smart-home-assistant-2669aec2754c

Apple’s HomePod would’ve been an interesting product in mid-2016. We’re now looking at an early 2018 launch of a product that’s wildly behind in features, price, and time to market. It’s clear that “smart home assistant” is now a robust product category. The Amazon Echo was groundbreaking, and Google Home improved on the concept. Apple is hardly ever the one to create a new product category, but they’re almost always the ones to define it.

And with the HomePod, it’s difficult to understand what Apple’s play is here.