Apple's HomePod Smart Speaker Arrives February 9, Pre-Orders Start January 26

Apple announced on Tuesday that its long-anticipated HomePod smart speaker powered by the Siri intelligent personal assistant it's finally coming early next month, on February 9, 2018.

HomePod is Apple's response to the smart speaker market, which is currently dominated by Amazon's Alexa and Google's Home. The device is primarily designed to deliver stunning audio quality, works with an Apple Music subscription so you can listen to all of your favorite songs, and it's powered by Siri so you can do more than listen to music.

Siri enables HomePod users to transform the smart speaker into a personal assistant that can send messages, play podcasts, set timers, check the weather, check the traffic, check the news and sport scores, as well as to control various of other smart appliances you may have at home, which must be HomeKit-enabled, of course.

"HomePod i...