It seems that the early (and mostly positive) reviews of the HomePod are doing the speakers favors because ahead of its release, it looks like Apple might have sold out of their initial stock for their Australian online store. The speakers were initially set for a release on the 9th of February, but it now lists the 13th of February as its shipping date.
This is the same situation that shoppers in the UK are facing where the shipping estimates have also slipped to the 13th of February. Now this isn’t to say Apple is sold out completely as we imagine that the company probably has allocated some units to its brick-and-mortar stores, so if you don’t think you can or want to wait, you can always try your luck at an Apple Store.
That being said oddly enough Apple’s US online store is still listing the 9th of February as its shipping date. We’re not sure if this means that demand in the US isn’t as strong as other markets, or if Apple simply allocated more units to the US than the other markets that the speakers are launching in.
Either way like we said, early reviews have mostly heaped praise onto the speaker’s sound quality, which many seem to agree is delivering as promised. However the cons in most of the reviews are suggesting that compared to the Amazon Echo or Google Home, the HomePod’s smarts isn’t quite up there yet.