Apple might not be performing as it hoped to in
China, but this doesn’t stop the company from going forward with product
launches. The latest arrival is the HomePod which got listed on Apple's Chinese
website. The speaker is priced at CNY 2,799 or about US$ 415, which is over 15%
markup of the US$ 349 price in the United States.
Apple made the HomePod appealing to local customers
with giving it support for Mandarin and Cantonese, including a Hong Kong
dialect. The press release also stated that you can stream music from local
services such as QQ Music, DeDao, while Hong Kong is also getting Spotify,
KKBOX, and JOOX.
The HomePod is already listed, but the Buy button is
greyed out. It will be available on January 18 when both the White and Space Grey
options can be purchased. There are also the usual add-ons like extended
AppleCare+ for as low as CNY 329 and 12-month plans for purchasing in
installments.
