Apple HomePod vs. Amazon Echo and its rivals: Here's how it stacks up

The HomePod speaker is photographed in a a showroom during an announcement of new products at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference Monday, June 5, 2017, in San Jose, Calif. We're about to find out if the Siri-infused voice-controlled wireless HomePod smart speaker that Apple -- following a lengthy delay -- finally starts shipping on Feb. 9 can lure listeners away from Amazon's Alexa, and to a lesser extent the Google Assistant. Apple starts taking preorders Friday. HomePod is positioned as a high-end speaker, and at $349 priced accordingly. But it is considerably higher than the $199 you'll pay for another sweet-sounding speaker, the Sonos One with Alexa.