Should you wait for the Apple HomePod?

Yesterday, Apple announced the "HomePod"--the company's take on the Amazon Echo or Google Home--during WWDC 2017. Since then, there have been countless articles and videos highlighting the new speaker's seven-tweeter array or funky, mesh-wrapped design. But at $349 and with a December ship date, is it really worth it to hold out for the HomePod? It's telling that Apple didn't position the HomePod as a direct Amazon Echo or Google Home competitor and instead set its sights on Sonos and other speaker-first brands. The HomePod is designed first and foremost with audio in mind, and it shows in what's waiting under that mesh hood.