Apple is in the process of rebooting its HomePod, but it appears the company hasn't learned any lessons from the failure of the original version.

Apple’s original HomePod sounded incredible and brought some genuinely surprising new features to the world of all-in-one home speakers. But it cost way too much for a smart speaker and didn’t offer enough connectivity options to be considered an audiophile speaker option. Apple sold so few of them that when it eventually discontinued them, it was still trying to shift units it had produced years earlier. So why the reboot? What changed? Almost nothing, but maybe that doesn’t matter.

"This seems like a risky launch. I'm sure it sounds great and works as expected, what with the unreliable Siri and all, but it costs $300. That's only $50 less than the original model that sold before it was discontinued," tech blogger Nick Heer writes on his PixelEnvy blog.

When I wrote about HomePod 2 speculation last year, I said that "even if the HomePod 2 has better controls, an aux-in audio jack, better touch controls, and similarly good audio performance, even that doesn't guarantee it will be a hit. The price will have to be right, and, well, the Siri factor is still a problem."