Better late than never, as the saying goes. It’s been frustrating, in recent months, to see Amazon’s Echo speaker and its Alexa voice assistant grabbing all the headlines, while Apple’s Siri and its HomeKit home-automation software sat on the sidelines. And, even more importantly, the Amazon Echo was also getting all the attention from manufacturers of smart lighting systems, thermostats, security cameras, and all the other smart home devices that we cover every month.
Apple’s original plan for the emerging home automation market was to use the Apple TV as its central control device. But, of course, the Apple TV has never really been a big success, and it simply couldn’t compete with the Amazon Echo or the Google Home speaker.
That’s where Apple’s new HomePod speaker comes in. It’s…