Apple has announced a voice-activated loudspeaker powered by its virtual assistant Siri. Like devices by Amazon and Google, Apple's HomePod speaker can respond to questions and control smart home gadgets such as lights.

Analysts say Apple has been slow to improve its Siri virtual assistant and launch a smart speaker, after Amazon launched its Echo in 2014. The company has pitched HomePod first and foremost as a music player.

"Apple is being very clever by launching its Siri speaker as a music speaker that's smart, because Siri isn't great," said Tom Warren from the technology news site The Verge. "Interesting that home assistant was the last feature they talked about. Focusing on music is smart, main use case for smart speakers," said Ben Bajarin, of the Creative Strategies consultancy. The announcement was made at the tech giant's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California.

"It's a logical step for Apple, to ensure that they don't miss the opportunity to get a smart device right in the centre of people's homes," said Ben Wood, an industry analyst at CCS Insight. "There has been a huge amount of hype around Amazon Echo and Google Home, but we are really at the start of this technology. "This does a great job of extending the tentacles of Apple services."

Courtesy:BBC