Investing.com - Last week, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) postponed the launch of its HomePod from December to early 2018, but even without the delay, it will be playing catchup to the Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Echo and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Home. Apple is known for groundbreaking products with superior design, like the iPod and iPhone, which revolutionized music and smartphone technology. However, when it comes to the HomePod smart speaker, Amazon and Google have substantial head starts. Apple engineers have been working on a smart speaker for five years, but the HomePod has yet to debut. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Echo has been around since 2014 and is a standalone product at the center of an ecosystem. Echo’s cloud-based operating system has made it possible for developers to create thousands of voice-activated apps that can do everything from controlling your smart home, to giving banking and investment portfolio information. The Google Home, which launched earlier this year, has similar capabilities. "Smart homes seem to be the next big thing", said Clement Thibault, analyst at Investing.com. "Apple has a strong ecosystem and a loyal customer base, so we will be closely watching the HomePod adoption rate, when it finally arrives."Will Apple be able to catch up to rivals Amazon and Google?