Apple's HomePod firmware spills more details on the smart speaker

Apple unveiled its Siri-powered HomePod speaker hub at WWDC back in June, and despite a hefty $350 pricetag and the inevitable comparisons to Alexa devices, it actually sounds pretty good. In the lead up to its release this December, Apple pushed out the hub's firmware, revealing that it runs on iOS -- basically like a screenless iPhone or iPad. Just to cut off speculation: there doesn't seem to be any kind of provision in the HomePod OS shell for installing apps or extensions. Obviously, that's not to say the device never will. Since it runs on a full iOS stack through a shell app called "Soundboard," they could always patch in the ability for third parties to load up their software later.