David Pogue has written a brief review of Apple's HomePod. You can read his comments, and how the review was done, by clicking the following link:
http://pogueman.tumblr.com/post/170425869607/david-pogues-sneak-preview-of-the-apple-homepod
Quick summary: expensive, good sound, not so 'smart'.
Jim Hamm
Here is an interesting article discussing Apple's new HomePod. At this early stage it appears the HomePod will be of interest to people that already subscribe to Apple music. Although conceptually it will be a competitor to Amazon's Echo or Google Home, the article implies it isn't now. No doubt Apple will continue to focus and improve on the HomePod after its release.
I was watching WWDC17 when Schiller introduced the HomePod. It is small, and full of electronic gadgetry, which presumably contributes to its high price of $349 -- plus, of course, a healthy profit margin for Apple. Will be interesting to hear the sound in person some day.
Zee has Alexa in our kitchen, and I occasionally use it to play music while I'm washing dishes (man's work!) or cutting up strawberries. I just read that 40% of the music coming through Alexa comes from Pandora, not Amazon music.
Jim Hamm