It’s always funny when journalists give advice to Apple. Here’s Shira Ovide at Bloomberg who suggest Apple’s HomePod is priced too high:

But if Apple truly wants to become more than a hardware company, it needs to think different -- to steal from a Steve Jobs advertising campaign. It needs the quality of its digital music service, mapping app, Siri, future web video products and more to be up to par and not only good enough to help differentiate its hardware from that of rivals. Apple doesn't necessarily need to sell $50 Siri speakers. But if Apple wants its software and internet offerings to stand on their own, then it needs to borrow from Amazon and Google and make the hardware a means to an end -- and rethink gadget prices, too.
The same thing was said about the AirPods. But interestingly Apple has been selling AirPods so quickly that they have barely been able to produce enough of them to keep up with demand. Apple never engages in the race to the bottom as we see is now happening between Amazon and Google as their smart speaker prices fall lower and lower. The market is flooded with dirt-cheap tablets but iPads continue to sell at normal iPad prices. Same goes for the AppleWatch. And the iPhone X. The list goes on.

It always surprises me that journalists and analysts get to keep their jobs regardless of how consistently wrong they are.

Given the number of bluetooth speakers that are available in the $300+ range I consider the HomePod at less than $400 a bargain. Unlike a bluetooth speaker which does nothing but play music piped in from nearby device, a HomePod is a self-contained speaker capable of not only pulling down it’s own music via the internet but will also allow for playing from iPhones, iPads, AppleTVs. Not to mention all the features that come along with Siri and the convenience of voice control.