Spotify Offering UK Family Plan Subscribers a Free Google Home Mini Speaker

We can't afford to pay the artists, but we can give you free electronics....

I really don’t know how so many people keep missing this: Apple has already set the groundwork for HomePod to beat Alexa Skills. Siri Shortcuts have been expanding HomePod’s capabilities with already hundreds thousands ('https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/28/siri-new-shortcuts/')* of “skills” in the year since it came out...

People don’t want to have to create shortcuts to make Siri useful. The Google Assistant provides much better responses to just any general question while Siri tends to either not understand, offer any options for whatever reason, or provides a set of links that Google has provided based on the search. Google will read off the top hit and you can skim through responses with voice commands while Siri requires opening an app.


My wife jokes all the time “hey Siri play Supernatural on Bedroom TV.” And it doesn’t talk to our Apple TV because Siri can’t do that. So we have to get our the remote. We tell Google to do the same thing and it works with our Chromecast.


That’s just some examples. I don’t share your optimism for Siri or it’s shortcuts (that have bee around a while now). The HomePod is a great speaker with an OK assistant. It’s currently not targeting the Google Home and Alexa market, but it could be in that category if Siri was greatly improved.


In my experience, I’m not numbing into those “1000s” of “skills.” I’m hitting road blocks. Siri does what I need it to do and that’s well enough for now.

And people wonder why Apple isn’t trying to compete directly with Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

Putting Apple Music on Amazon Echos (and likely soon Google Home) isn’t conceding the smart speaker space. It’s about reaching the widest possible audience with Apple Music, in fact not conceding the smart speaker space to Spotify. Inevitably those Apple Music customers will want better sound and a native Apple experience and will upgrade to a HomePod.

Siri’s feature set is far behind both Alexa and Google Assistant. It’s not just about hardware quality and cost. They have to improve Siri before even making a claim that they are directly competing. For now, HomePod is just a really good speaker that happens to have Siri and work seamlessly with Apple devices. The potential for what a “smart” Siri could add to the HomePod is a promise we haven’t seen any indication of coming yet.

Wow Spotify learned from the last free google home mini promo making it only redeemable to master account holder. Last time they did it last year I managed to buy 8 codes for like $24 to get 8 google home minis easily and they sell for like $20 each.

Honestly, nothing to be proud of.
But good to know

People don’t want to have to create shortcuts to make Siri useful. The Google Assistant provides much better responses to just any general question while Siri tends to either not understand, offer any options for whatever reason, or provides a set of links that Google has provided based on the search. Google will read off the top hit and you can skim through responses with voice commands while Siri requires opening an app.


My wife jokes all the time “hey Siri play Supernatural on Bedroom TV.” And it doesn’t talk to our Apple TV because Siri can’t do that. So we have to get our the remote. We tell Google to do the same thing and it works with our Chromecast.


That’s just some examples. I don’t share your optimism for Siri or it’s shortcuts (that have bee around a while now). The HomePod is a great speaker with an OK assistant. It’s currently not targeting the Google Home and Alexa market, but it could be in that category if Siri was greatly improved.


In my experience, I’m not numbing into those “1000s” of “skills.” I’m hitting road blocks. Siri does what I need it to do and that’s well enough for now.

The shortcuts are not straight forward for the average user and many of them don’t even work on the HomePod. Siri will just say it can’t do that or there was a problem with the app. I agree people want something straight forward like an Alexa skill or just to be able to tell the google assistant to do it and got it to be done.

My google home can even turn on my TV when it’s off, switch to the right input and then start playing a TV show on my chromecast or I can get it to do a YouTube search and then have it play whichever video I want.
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I really don’t know how so many people keep missing this: Apple has already set the groundwork for HomePod to beat Alexa Skills. Siri Shortcuts have been expanding HomePod’s capabilities with already hundreds thousands ('https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/28/siri-new-shortcuts/')* of “skills” in the months since it came out.

Things that weren’t possible at launch are now a part of HomePod owners’ routine and Apple didn’t have to program those skills in. All it takes is for developers of existing apps to flip a switch in X Code to enable Shortcuts. I emphasized existing because unlike Alexa skills that have to be programmed specifically for Alexa, apps that can be accessed by HomePod already exist in the World’s biggest App Store. All it takes is developers to turn them on. So it’s not a matter of if HomePod will match and beat Alexa’s skills, but when. And that when is getting here way faster than even I thought.

I frequently order my favourite takeout, start a mediation session, ask Siri to add tasks to my Things to do list, log a glass of water or food in Waterminder and myfitnesspal apps, enter a voice clip in my Day One journal, get the weather from third party apps like Dark Sky, check off habits in Streaks, play Pandora or Tunein radio, and even get the news from Google News, all on my HomePod. None of this was possible when I bought my HomePod less than a year ago.

There’s no other explanation that you and many other critics keep missing all of this other than that you don’t own a HomePod and are speaking from a misinformed standpoint. You have quite a bit of catching up to do.

As for intelligence, Siri passed Alexa months ago. https://venturebeat.com/2018/07/25/google-assistant-wins-ai-iq-test-siri-beats-alexa-and-cortana/

Keep in mind that Amazon Echo with Alexa has been out for 5 years. HomePod just passed the 1 year mark and Siri Shortcuts has only been out for 6 months.

*I had to update this number because even I wasn’t caught up to the latest numbers. There are now thousands, not hundreds of apps compatible with Siri Shortcuts and by extension HomePod.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/28/siri-new-shortcuts/ ('https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/28/siri-new-shortcuts/')

That’s one study. In my experience and I own all 3 (HomePod, google home, Alexa) the HomePod is the least intelligent. I have my HomePod pair because of the sound quality and because it can do simple tasks like adding events to my calendar, setting a reminder or making a call or sending a text. However my echos and google home devices are far more capable.

The shortcuts are complicated and quite often don’t work with the HomePod. Even the few that do work I have to keep setting them up again as after a while the HomePod stops doing them.

And people wonder why Apple isn’t trying to compete directly with Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

Everyone I know and their mom has a Google Home mini that they got at a raffle or with their purchase of potatoes at the local supermarket.

Apple isn’t in the business of competing with Free. HomePod doesn’t have to compromise on sound quality just so it can try to price match the others. Apple can continue to focus on excellence in sound and design.

Putting Apple Music on Amazon Echos (and likely soon Google Home) isn’t conceding the smart speaker space. It’s about reaching the widest possible audience with Apple Music, in fact not conceding the smart speaker space to Spotify. Inevitably those Apple Music customers will want better sound and a native Apple experience and will upgrade to a HomePod.