Given the Home RRP is $199 and has been seen as low as $121.
What is everyone's guess on how low the Google Home Mini will go given its RRP is $79?
I'm wanting this, but thinking about when to pull the trigger. Can hold out if the price drops enough :)
How low and in how long?
Thoughts?
:)
The question is when Amazon launches, and what happens.
We have to assume the launch is soon. And by previous history either at launch, or on about Black Friday, Amazon will discount the likes of the Echo Dot - probably to ~AU$40-50.
And I'd guess that google will respond.
So my guess is within the next month.
A bit of a side note, but do you think Amazon will be operating in Australia before Christmas? Why not wait until the new year (or maybe Boxing Day sales)?
The big bricks and mortar retailers already have prepared press releases and photos of little kiddies who didn't get their Christmas presents because Amazon didn't deliver.
Actually, if I were them, I'd have already launched to knock the kinks out of their system. However they aren't new to this, and if auspost fails to deliver … let's just say the blame press releases are already written.
Christmas is the time to make money - why wait till a time when you don't?
I hear you, I guess my point being that seeing they haven't launched yet, why risk damaging your brand on "day one"? In the battle of the media, who's going to cop it for undelivered presents … Australia Post who in this context are really "just there" or the big, bad multi-national corporation taking Australian jobs and not paying tax? (Made extra scary, just 'cause it's Halloween).
While Amazon obviously sees there's money to be made here, they don't need to grab short term profits … whatever cash they might make in the next 8 weeks is a drop in the ocean to them. Amazon will want to play the long game.
Anyway, it's an interesting game of speculation. We'll see what happens over the next little while, but either way I'm looking forward to the launch.
Well, time will tell. However if auspost screw up, even with a standard for Amazon equal to "Express Platinum", then best to know that early.
And if they say "auspost claimed they could deliver, we took them at their word, gave them a chance, and they failed massively" - I doubt there is anyone that would be on auspost's side.
Given that Amazon are launching only in a few product classes initially, I'd expect that's as gentle a launch as they will feel like. If nothing else they need their Echo hardware and Prime service out there quite soon.
I can hazard a guess that they will open around the 13th of November. I just got a reply from an US shop saying that they can't ship to Australia but their Australian Amazon store will be launched on 13/11/17! So hopefully….
13th is when the one day 3rd party seller seminar is. Presumably they would be launched by that point - but I had thought they would have launched before then - nothing yet though.
Someone will know, you would assume an advertising blitz.
Price didn't drop in US
Woolworths promo gives mini with spending for certain weeks. I belive many people will offload their google mini on ebay. Over supply will be for sure, you can get them cheap.
Honest question. How is this any better than what your phone can offer you?
Yeah, I'm in the same boat on that wavelength of thinking; how does Google home differ from say just talking to Siri or Google Assistant?
its fixed location so you can count on it also it can find your phone now
Do you mean that it's sitting on the kitchen bench or on the bed side table? So, you can use it to find your phone if you've lost it? Would that work on iPhone too?
That's a really good point.
Also, these smart speakers tend to have specialised microphones which can pick up voice better over distances and over background noise - compared with say a smartphone.
And maybe its pointing out the obvious but they are speakers so the speaker is better than in your smartphone and (like the Google Home Mini/Amazon Echo Dot) the price does go down pretty low.
It's also only doing one thing. Waiting for you to speak to it. Phones can be a bit laggy when responding because they are doing other stuff which require CPU cycles.
Its a bit like the difference between a tablet and a laptop.
Tablets are just a little bit easier to access and are simple to use. Voice assistant speakers are always on and always there in the same place. Convenience.
Well, I can dig that, and I definitely appreciate the parallel between the laptop and iPad, in terms of convenience.
@Jawanzar:
You're more likely to use your voice in your own home to communicate with something. The fact it's in a fixed location and is pretty good at interpreting what you want means you use it more than you think.
Even just asking "What time is the nearest Dan Murphy's open" is pretty handy.
That's a pretty good analogy. Thanks.
We use it for listening to music almost every day, so it's more than just an assistant that can tell you the time and weather etc.
My phone doesn't have always on listening, so in order to turn the lights on/off/colour/dim etc, it's too tedious to get the phone out each time, activate assistant then voice my lighting control.
I'm hoping this will be a great way to adjust the lights easily from anywhere in my place.
Interesting. If it ever drops in price, I might get one to play around with. As it is, my phone is usually within reach, so I'm happy with that. Although… Assistant hasn't been that great lately. I ask it something, and it doesn't respond. And it's not a hard request either. I ask it to play a song, and it just shows me those 3 dots.
Yah, I've had a similar experience, I'm kinda hoping these devices are more streamlined since thats really their only job….
Haven't been able to justify till now either as I felt the Home is too expensive. If this gets to below $50 i'll probably pull the trigger.
$199 to $121 that's about 40% off the RRP. So in theory, in twelve months Google Home Mini should be discounted to about $30.
Since it's sub-$100, its really at the impulse buy territory - so I would guess it might drop further or maybe it'll drop faster than Google Home did. That would encourage people to buy multiple units for different rooms/floors.
Further, supporting steep discounts is the fact that Google just want your data since they're an advertising company and not a hardware company (as least not by profit).
Also, as noted by others, beating Amazon Echo to the Australian market will give Google added impetus to discount quickly. I think once people start to get used to one of those assistants it'll be hard for others to break into the market - so first mover advantage works well in this instance.
Yes, I am also waiting to see what happens with Amazon.
I have Sonos speakers, so $79 is too steep of a price for no AUX out support.
Yeah, that is a bit annoying.. but I guess they're still trying to flog off their chromecast audios………..
Mind you, they do work in conjunction if you'd prefer to stay on the Google ecosystem… But yeah, means you need 2 devices…
$78 at Officeworks at the moment…
Kramer: I'll take it!
^_^
Just wait a couple more days. Once Pixel2 buyers start offloading the bundled Google Home Minis you'll be able to grab one easily for $50 or less on ebay or Gumtree.
Thanks, great responses everyone!
It's got me feeling more optimistic :) Seems to be some good indicators that there might be a decent price whack and I'm more than happy to wait it out for a steal.
Good point about the Woolies and Pixel deals. Will keep an eye on eBay!!
might depend on what kogan end up selling their grey imports for too, it's only $49 USD, so about $63 AUD so kogan might end up about $65-69 with any luck local retailers will drop their prices by a tenner to compete, well harvey norman wont but everyone else might
Just had a quick Google on Google Home Mini and came across this…."When you purchase a Pixel 2 from Google Store before 31 December 2017, you'll get a promo code emailed to you 4-6 weeks afterwards to redeem for a Mini from the Google Store by 28 February 2018."
https://store.google.com/product/google_home_mini?utm_source…
Yup, mentioned above and posted here: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/333671
I'm hoping the a few of these people will flog them off for cheap on eBay/Gumtree :)
Heads up guys,
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/339245
@scrimshaw just posted this.
I did say I'd pull at $50 but got too impatient and went with this deal..
I looked on eBay and Gumtree and people were selling for $80-$100….
Can't wait!
How long is a piece of string?
for anyone who thinks they qualified for the Woolworths "shop 4 weeks and get the google mini" and haven't received a confirmation email, you might want to follow up. I just did and they very clearly have a system issue that took the online delivery saver offer (3 months for $50) and subtracted that amount off my grocery order NOT the delivery saver value, taking me below my spend threshold. The fact that the discount was a "free 3 month delivery saver" didn't seemed to change their perspective, which i found a bit odd.
After a polite chat and a few emails for proof, i am waiting on adjudication from higher beings…..
Price just dropped heavily in the US - $29 + &10 voucher for rest of 2017:
https://9to5google.com/2017/11/24/google-home-mini-price-cut…
Is it possible to program a Google home mini for offline use? Or is it one of those "We must always track you, so the product must always be online." things?
I want to use it for things like lighting, playing music on voice (not voice recog, but a preset voice comparison), etc. but I wonder if that's too much to ask for an offline device…
Gumtree and Facebook marketplace are flooded with them at the moment from people who bought Pixels.
You can find them for $60 sometimes $50.
I bought 3 last week for $50 each.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/350160
Wow, keeps plummeting! $43.20 is making my $63.20 deal look like a rip off now! haha
No more free Google Home Mini deals on (short of buying Pixels etc)!
Goes to show how keen Google is to invade the home and get ahead of Amazon too
What's the power usage of this thing?
How are the mini speakers compared to the home?
Does the Huawei Mediapad M3 have google assistant?
Any differences in the new max and the old home or just voice range and speaker quality everything else the same for example does the home have extra charging ports or something.
Might actually buy one for listening to music while I play on my tablet so it doesn't interfere with discord.
Don’t know re: power usage. Anything that small would likely have neglible average power consumption usage.
You should probably go and google the rest. Too much info to post in a comments section.
You can get 2(JB) or 3(GG) for the price of one right now so apparently they will get pretty cheap
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/353003
Some people got 2 for $2!
Won't get any lower than that! haha
Looks like they won't honour it though.
I'm in the same boat. I'll bite if it drops below $50!