HomePod hopes

Affordable sibling for the smart speaker?

The HomePod is making slow progress compared to its rivals. Research firm Strategy Analytics estimated that the HomePod, launched back in February, had captured about 6 per cent of the home speaker market by the summer of 2018, compared to Amazon’s 41 per cent. Amazon had a head start, but it’s also given Alexa a big hand by selling the Echo Dot for $49.99. Apple will never go as low as that, but a $149 HomePod mini could make a difference. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who’s often right, predicts that a new model will arrive as early as March.