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But, overall, rather than Apple’s market to lose, this is Amazon’s market to lose and they already have more line depth than Apple does, more content than Apple does, and a far more aggressive price than Apple does.  What Apple may have a slightly better sound but at around twice the price of the comparable Echo product that doesn’t seem like much of advantage and the Echo Show has decent set of directional speakers which could sound better in places like kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, and offices (though given the Show has a built-in camera you’ll want to be a tad careful on bathroom and bedroom use as starting a video conference by voice accidentally could result in a far too memorable event.

Wrapping Up:  Is The Apple HomePod The New Zune?

Certainly, on paper if you don’t take into account the incredibly loyal Apple customer base.  Were Apple’s customers more like those from other vendors we’d likely be talking a failed product, but a critical mass of Apple customers buy pretty much anything Apple and that plus the power of iTunes could keep the HomePod from failing.  But the HomePod is more at risk because the Echo Show has a far stronger foundation than the Zune did, video is far more available than it was, and the unique connection to shopping and communications which the Show has, but the HomePod lacks, should assure its performance.  If there is a downside to the Show it is the always on camera which could become a problem for some of us.

So, I doubt either product will fail but the HomePod, on paper, is far weaker and, strangely enough, it isn’t even really as strong competitive against the Amazon Show as the Zune was against the iPod.  This last makes me wonder whether, had Microsoft and Apple’s positions been reversed, whether Apple could have done with the Zune what Microsoft didn’t.  If it came down to execution, Jobs clearly out executed Microsoft’s then CEO Balmer so maybe so.  Anyway, something to think about as we go through the long weekend.