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Aww: Apple won't be HomePod for Christmas

Sir Jony's nosey speakers delayed until 2018

Apple will fail to deliver its HomePod internet-connected speakers in time for the Christmas shopping season.

The Cupertino idiot-tax racket handed out statements to friendly journos on Friday admitting that fans will have to wait until some time next year to get their hands on the gizmo.

"We need a little more time before it’s ready for our customers," Apple spokesbods said. "We’ll start shipping in the US, UK and Australia in early 2018."

The HomePod was among the devices showcased by Apple execs earlier this summer at the tech giant's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Jose.

Designed to be a "premium" (read: expensive) take on the likes of Amazon's Echo and Google Home personal assistants, the $350 HomePod put its emphasis on high-quality audio. Apple billed the speaker as not only an AI assistant, but also an extension to a home entertainment center capable of playing music as well as running Siri.

"Just like iPod reinvented music in our pockets, HomePod is going to reinvent music in our homes," Apple marketing head Phil Schiller said at the time.

And at that the time, Apple had said it was planning to ship HomePod to the US, UK and Australia by December this year. Along with the bad publicity that comes from having to delay a product announced months ago, Apple also faces the sting of losing out on HomePod sales for what is its busiest time of the year.

Even without its HomePod vaporware, Apple will look to log a strong end to the calendar year, in terms of sales revenue, as its new iPhones look to combine with strong tablet sales and what should at least be decent Apple Watch and AppleTV figures. ®

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