re: Sonos Trolling Apple Home Pod Release

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by your logic they should not allow spotify app on the iphone.

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I hate these games you play. iOS is a platform. Siri is not. You know the difference. Until a full fledged Siri SDK is released it's not a platform. iOS has a SDK, thus it is a platform.

3rd parties can build apps for Google Home (Actions) and Alexa (Skills) which is how Spotify works with these two. You can't do this with Siri. There is a SiriKit for iOS, but it is very limited and currently does not include any 3rd party audio tools. Whose fault is it that Siri is lacking? Apple of course. But that's the way Siri is. It is not a platform. So if Spotify released a speaker and it didn't support Apple Music, it would be nearly the same as Apple releasing a speaker and it not supporting Spotify. However, I do believe that a Siri SDK will be released eventually. Then it will be totally up to Spotify as to whether or not there will be native support for it on the HomePod.

I don't think that Apple is purposefully withholding a Siri SDK. We all know how poor Siri is compared to Alexa and Google. And Siri is doing a way smaller subset of tasks that either Alexa or Google can do. It's pathetic really. Apple has been working all these years on Siri sounding better instead of actually being better. I think the competition pressure has made them change their priorities though. I wouldn't be surprised if a Siri SDK is released this summer at WWDC. But I've been saying that for a couple years now...

apple is billing this as a high-end speaker that is 'better than sonos', not a competitor to a $29 alexa dot, but a competitor to a $300+ sonos wifi speaker.

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Remember, Apple Music is on Android.

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Apple music is not supported by the Google home line nor the Alexa line.

None of these high end assistant speakers are worth it to me but at least Google home max supports Spotify. At least.

David Pogue blind test

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At the end of my own listening test, then, I handed out signs that said “A,” “B,” “C,” and “D,” and asked the panelists to hold up their winners’ signs on the count of three. I knew what they would say: “B,” “B,” “B,” “B,” and “B” (that was the HomePod’s letter).

That’s not what happened.

They held up their signs. Two of them ranked the Google Home Max (“D”) as the best. Three of them ranked the Sonos One (“A”) the best.

Nobody ranked the HomePod the best.

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I actually have no great explanation for this outcome. Most of the panelists had ranked the HomePod (“B”) as first on some of the songs — just not most of the songs.

Rob: “For me, A, the Sonos, consistently had the most robust sound of all of them.”
Tori: “The Sonos won two of them for me. ‘B’ [HomePod] won the ‘Star Wars.’”
Dana: “’B’ [HomePod] won one of mine. I felt like ‘A’ [Sonos], a lot of times, sounded a lot more sharp.”
Julie: “I picked between B and D [HomePod and Google Home Max] as being the two best. B and D were pretty clear. And C [the Amazon Echo] came in consistently last for me.”
Darwin: “I actually found A [the Sonos] to be the one that I hated the most. B [HomePod] did win one for me. It won ‘Havana,’ because it had a better low end. But I generally picked D [Google Home Max], because it had a clearer, nicer range. As a classical person, I definitely would go with D. But if I were listening to more pop stuff, I could see where ‘A’ [Sonos] could win.”
So what are we to make of this? Why did none of my panelists rank HomePod a solid No. 1, when most critics all do (and so do I)?

Was something wrong with my setup? Well, no, because the night before, using the same setup, Nicki and Mike both ranked the HomePod No. 1.

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What I can say for sure is this:

The Apple HomePod generally sounds better than any other smart speaker—but only somewhat, and only in direct A/B/C/D tests. If you listened to the HomePod, Sonos, and Google Home an hour apart, you’d never be able to declare one a clear winner. (Everyone agrees that the Amazon Echo Plus is the loser in this roundup, but then again, it’s $150 and the size of a Pringle’s can; it’s not a fair fight.)
You can get two Sonos Ones for the price of a single Apple HomePod. You can use them as a stereo pair, or put them in different rooms and control them by voice. And you can have your choice of 42 music services (Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn, etc.) — not just Apple Music. And you can use all of Amazon’s Alexa voice commands (and, soon, Google’s commands and even Siri’s commands!), meaning you can control a vastly larger range of smart-home devices than the HomePod can.
Everybody’s different.
Music gear (and listening tests) are famously contentious; they’re probably responsible for triggering more flame wars online than abortion and gun control put together.

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I still can't agree with you that the Sonos blows the HomePod away. I will concede they are at worst on par with each other with the Sonos most likely being better. Not by an order of magnitude or anything however.

As bonus, HomePod leaves persistent white rings on your wood furniture. Break out the iCoasters, everybody.

Apple Confirms HomePod Can Leave White Rings on Wood Surfaces With Oil or Wax Finishes

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Is a feature.

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They're setting it on the table wrong.

LINK

This guy says the sonos one does the same thing. I checked my play 1 that sits on a wood cabinet and no marks.