Apple has announced that it is delaying it;s Siri powered Apple Homepod until some time next year.  Unveiled in June the Homepod is Apples answer to Googles Home and Amazons Alexa.  It has been in development for years and CEO Tim Cook promised Apple customers they would be "blown away" by their "breakthrough" speaker, at least not until next year now that is.

“While missing holidays is a shame I think what is at stake here is much more longer term for Apple and they are wise in taking the time,” said Carolina Milanesi, analyst at Creative Strategies. “If HomePod shipped today and all it did was deliver great sound, Apple would be more likely to lose the Assistant and connected home battle than if it delayed the product to knock our socks off when it ships.” Last year, Apple’s $160 AirPods had been scheduled to launch in October but did not go on sale until mid-December, and were in short supply for months. However, the product is now seen as one of Apple’s most popular accessories.  “It did not hurt Apple to kind of miss Christmas last year,” Ms Milanesi said.

Apple is way behind at the moment in the smart home stakes, if this was any other company they would be rushing it out the door to make sure they don't get left behind, but it's Apple.  They know their fanbase will wait and buy their version of the automated voice assistant, they have a locked in fanbase who have already got used to using Siri on their iPhone and iWatch.

Still they are a long way behind Google, who are about the same distance behind Amazon who, seemingly out of nowhere, released their Amazon Echo which has to date sold over 15 million units.