What the HomePod Says About Apple

[Bloomberg] [Fully Charged]( From [Bloomberg](   [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]([Twitter Share]( [SUBSCRIBE [Subscribe]](  Hi, everyone. It's [Shira](mailto:sovide@bloomberg.net). On Friday, Apple Inc.'s HomePod, the company's first new device category since the Watch, hits stores. I doubt it will set the world on fire, but I've come around to a different way of thinking about the speaker and Apple's business. The HomePod is a stroke of financial genius, but also shows Apple's lack of technology innovation. That epitomizes the company right now: It's adept at product extensions and [pricing strategies]( to keep pushing up sales and profit, even though it no longer sets trends. I'll focus first on what HomePod is not. I'm [surprised]( Apple's biggest selling point for the device is audio quality. After all, Steve Jobs didn't tout how crisp songs sounded on the original iPod, or how the iPhone had a better digital Rolodex than the Palm Pilot. The company wasn't trying to make better versions of the MP3 players and mobile phones that came before. The iPod and iPhone were fresh ways to approach computing, and those products reshaped the technology industry. The HomePod won't do that. From the [initial reviews](, it seems Apple fulfills its promise to make a high-quality speaker for streaming music. In short, it's a great piece of consumer electronics. But it is not a re-imagination of how people interact with computers -- [Amazon already did]( that with its Alexa voice-controlled Echo devices. Yes, Apple has Siri, but that's not the focus of HomePod in its current form. If Apple is not exactly innovating with this device, it is doing something that savvy and relatively mature companies do: Coming up with ways to extend its main product. The HomePod, Apple Watch and services like Apple Music and iCloud are add-ons to the iPhone. People can buy a HomePod or Apple Music if they don't own an Apple smartphone, but it's unlikely. Apple's HomePod actually gives Apple two shots at fresh revenue. The first from the sale of the high-margin device, and then a second from selling subscriptions to Apple Music. It's clear that HomePod won't be very useful for playing music from anyplace other than Apple's own digital music products. (This would also be a good time to ask about those [iBundles](.) Ultimately, I suspect the HomePod will be a repeat of the Apple Watch. The company may not sell hundreds of millions of them, and entire businesses may not be built on the platform, but it boosts revenue and profit. That's especially important now that Apple is finding it tougher to grow the iPhone franchise. Apple is becoming a wily, old company that's less financially dependent on tech breakthroughs. It's not exciting, but it makes Apple a juggernaut of a different sort. [--Shira Ovide](  And here’s what you need to know in global technology Snap's share price rose above the company's IPO price for [the first time since July](. That was thanks to results that [exceeded]( lowered expectations on Wall Street. Separately, Snapchat is planning to air clips from Olympics [TV coverage](.  In court testimony this week, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick [repeatedly defended his actions]( in an acquisition of a driverless car startup that got his company into legal hot water with Google's parent company. "Generally Google was super not happy, unpumped," Kalanick testified in what is probably the first courtroom use of this expression.  Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg is pressing for [more mentorship of women]( in the workplace. A new survey conducted by her Lean In organization found almost half of male managers in the U.S. are reluctant to participate in common work activities with women, in the wake of high-profile reports of sexual harassment. "This is a big problem, because it undoubtedly will decrease the opportunities women have at work," Sandberg [wrote](.  SoftBank seems to make several splashy investments a week, and now [it's in talks]( to buy as much as a third of reinsurance company Swiss Re.    You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Technology newsletter Fully Charged. You can tell your friends to [sign up here](.  [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022