Apple HomePod leaves its mark – literally

Apple’s beautiful HomePod is leaving marks on some timber surfaces – Apple’s response is “It is a feature – not a defect. Wax on, wax off – use a coaster”.

Apple has apparently confirmed that it is not unusual for its $499 speaker – which GadgetGuy thinks has great sound performance for a small enclosure – to leave permanent ‘white rings’ on some timber surfaces.

Apparently, the Silicon-based sleeve can react with timber treated with oil-based polish – that is almost every natural timber surface with a sheen – or is that Mr Sheen?

Apple said “Cleaning the surface with the manufacturer’s suggested oiling method should remove the marks. If not, refinishing the surface would solve the issue.” (at a cost considerably more than the speaker).

In other words, it is not an Apple problem – your furniture is.

I think the following comments left at the Verge are appropriate

“If you have wood surfaces, you’re furnishing it wrong. Wood is vaguely organic, irregular, imperfect. Apple has never countenanced a wood-based product. Any marking is your fault for having purchased a product which is incompatible with Apple’s design criteria.”

“The solution would be for Apple to produce its own home furnishings range to be compatible with its devices. In common with other Apple products that have an ‘i’ prefix, maybe they could use a name such as iKea for the range.”

Reminds me of an old joke from the Microsoft bashing days.

If Microsoft made cars:

  1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.
  2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car.
  3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason.  You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue.
  4. For some reason, you would simply accept this.
  5. Occasionally, executing a manoeuvre such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
  6. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five percent of the roads.
  7. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation” warning light.
  8. The airbag system would ask “Are you sure?” before deploying.
  9. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
  10. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
  11. You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.”

You have been warned – place a lace doily under the HomePod and please follow Apple’s use guidelines including avoiding using it in the bath, shower or pool !