Add More Support for Third Party Platforms
One of the biggest strengths of Amazon’s Echo speakers and its Alexa digital assistant is that they actually play nice with third-party systems. Don’t want to use Amazon Music? You don’t have to — Alexa also supports Spotify and Apple Music.
But for HomePod users who aren’t Apple Music subscribers, the options are much more limited. In fact, the only way to play third-party streaming services is to use AirPlay 2. Without Siri voice command support, that’s hardly an ideal solution.
Luckily, Apple seems like it’s easing up on its “walled-garden” ecosystem just a bit. Just look at AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support for third-party TVs. Apple just needs to take into account that some people do and will always prefer Spotify over Apple Music.