March will be the time to bring home the Apple HomePods in India

Apple, in India, is bringing its A-game. In a bid to challenge the smart home speakers market with the leader Alexa comfortably at the helm and Google Home playing catch up, Apple is now joining the fray. It has confirmed the launch of Apple HomePod, a smart home speaker, to be released in the first week of March. The announcement comes soon after its quarterly earnings report revealed in California. In the US and European markets, Apple launched the HomePod as a bid to challenge the market dominance by Amazon Echo and Google home back in Jun 2017. We at MySmartBazaar always aim to bring you the latest, trendiest products in the electronics market. Our user base of 200-million people yearly, come shop with us to get the best deals on the latest products with real customer ratings and simplest price comparisons.

The big reveal
After much speculation, the price of the HomePod is said to be clocked at Rs. 19, 900. Though Apple has not shared an official report, many trade insiders believe it to stick with this price tag. The smart speaker which will be released in India in the first week of March 2020, just a month earlier to the new financial year will be a bold move for the most-valued technology company in the world.
Reportedly, it will be available across 3rd party Apple resellers, and online marketplaces like Amazon India, Flipkart and Apple India website, where the majority of Indian shoppers buy from. 

Talking about the price, it can be said that the tag of Rs. 19,900 is fairly decent to the Indian market, given that it was priced at $399 in the US and United Kingdom markets. In 2018, it was released in the North American country of Canada, European countries of France & Germany where it was priced the same. However, in the later years, Apple reduced its HomePod price to considerably by $50.

As the Indian market prepares for the launch of the HomePod, it will be happy to know that the price here will be the least one any customer has ever paid, so it might be an ace after all. This may, after all, follow the recent trend of Apple launching its products in India with a lower price tag than US or European markets, where otherwise the prices are neck-to-neck.
Take, for instance, iPhone and iPad that were typically costing at a notch above the US market price. About $100-$200 is what Indian customers would have to shell out to buy the same Apple product, hence most preferred to buy it from outside the country.

The most interesting battle will be between Alexa range of speakers and Apple HomePod. Alexa has almost become a household name as far as smart speakers are concerned. Fast, reliable and available at multiple price points, colours, and features — It will be a tough ask for Apple to shift the consumer view from Alexa to its’ HomePod. However, the brand and reputation Apple has built is nothing short of an enigma. And if there’s’ anyone who can take on the Amazon giant, it might as well be another giant, the Apple.