HomePod’s mark

Apple’s smart speaker is having an impact on buyers’ homes... not in a good way

There’s already a blot on HomePod’s reputation.

Some new products seem to hit the spot and just take off, like the original iPhone, say. Others are plagued with problems and criticisms. HomePod seems to fall into the latter category. On top of complaints about its shortcomings, some early buyers have found that their expensive new smart speaker is leaving a white ring on their even more expensive wooden surfaces.

Apple has acknowledged the issue but made light of it, saying in a support note concerning “Cleaning and taking care of HomePod” (read it in full at bit.ly/ml140homepod):

This response has generally not been well received. To some, it echoes Steve Jobs’s notorious response to complaints about the iPhone 4’s poor phone signal reception: “You’re holding it wrong” (or words to that effect). It has emerged, however, that Apple is correct: It’s not only the HomePod that produces this problem. Apple-specialist websites were inevitably quick to report this, but less partisan sources confirm it — trustedreviews.com, for example, notes that similar marks were left by Sonos One speakers. What’s more, the problem doesn’t seem to arise on all surfaces: We contacted a number of HomePod users, who all reported that they have not had this problem. Maybe it’s just that we don’t know anyone with expensive enough furniture…

If you own furniture with a porous or polished wood surface, you’re probably used to being pretty careful about it, insisting on coasters under your hot or cold drinks and mats under your dinner plate. Or possibly you’ve embraced the alternative view — the farmhouse philosophy, you might call it — and accepted that scratches, marks, and stains over time form a unique patina that actually gives your table or sideboard greater character.

Either way, this is not the kind of unexpected feature you want from a new premium speaker, and once again Apple is taking flak for not issuing any warnings. (The HomePod has been in development for at least five years, and you have to expect that the development of the mesh casing was given due attention as much as the insides…)

Now that we’ve been alerted to the situation, though, there’s surely an entrepreneurial opportunity here for someone to market an iCoaster or a HomePodPad… How does HomePod shape up? See our definitive test in this issue.