Apple unveils $349 HomePod to bring voice to home audio

Apple introduced the HomePod, its rival to Amazon's Echo, at the 2017 WWDC. Apple HomePod speaker, announced at Apple's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5, 2017. SAN JOSE -- Apple has set its sights on the living room, with a voice-activated $349 speaker called the HomePod that leverages personal digital-assistant Siri and stresses its functionality with core Apple services like Apple Music. The iPhone maker was expected to announce a smart speaker, a market that Amazon -- with its sleeper hit, the Echo -- and then later Google Home, powered by Assistant -- now dominate, giving them an integral place in users' lives. Such a speaker was missing from Apple's line-up, allowing rivals Amazon and Google to siphon off some of its loyal user base.