The Apple HomePod may be on the verge of getting support for third-party music streaming services like Spotify and Tidal.
In a press release issued following its WWDC 2020 keynote, Apple said that the HomePod has “a new program to integrate third-party music services”.
There was no confirmation of which music services these might be, but we think that Spotify is the most likely candidate. After all, Spotify is currently the world’s most popular streaming service, hitting 113 million subscribers in October last year, and continuing to grow.
Tidal is another possibility, and with its focus on providing Hi-Res Audio at a CD-like level of quality, better integration could entice audiophiles to the Apple HomePod.
Better integration
The Apple HomePod may be one of the best-sounding smart speakers on the market – but when it comes to actually playing your music, it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of connectivity.
Right now, Apple Music is the only streaming service that can be controlled with Siri, you’re essentially locking yourself into Apple’s audio ecosystem – and it’s one of the biggest drawbacks of the company’s first smart speaker.
Rumor has it that Apple is on the verge of launching the follow-up to the HomePod. The Apple HomePod 2 – or HomePod Mini, as some are calling it – is said to be a smaller, cheaper version of the brand’s Siri-powered speaker, and we thought we might have seen it at WWDC 2020.
Of course, it never materialized, but by giving the original wireless speaker better support for third-party services, Apple could make it seem like a brand-new product.
Source: techradar.com