If Amazon is going to spec it with leading technology components, but charge for less money than
competitors (which are using similar parts and selling for higher prices at
weak margins), then it follows that they're planning on losing money on the tablet and making the money instead on the products and services the owner will subsequently buy
from Amazon.
And while it seems likely that you'll be able to play music
from another service to HomePod through the newly announced AirPlay 2 system, that's still the
weakest music support of any of the HomePod's
competitors, all of which support direct playback of services like Spotify, Pandora, and, in Sonos» case, just about every music service ever made.