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Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

kevinrooke.com

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Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#551

Post by dijit »

Personal opinion time; Airpods are a powerful coupling with the real next big thing: The watch.

I think most of HN think of the watch as either a thing that will never happen or they think it peaked. But not only do I think that I could likely go a day without having my actual phone with me, I think this is only the beginning for that form factor.

I mean, consider that: handoff is here, and works.

Airpods mean external peripherals can be attached seamlessly.

It supports LTE and Streaming music.

The future I see, phones as they currently exist become tablets, and watches are the new phone.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#552

Post by mark_l_watson »

One thing that I think is missed: AirPods are an almost have to have addition to the Apple Watch. Without an iPhone, an Apple Watch with a data plan is pretty good for text messaging (I am traveling and tonight during dinner with my Dad and brother, the woman back home who takes care of my parrot texted me and included four pictures - the pictures were easy to view on my Apple Watch), phone calls, and reading emails. You can also use Apple Wallet on the watch for airline check in images, store discount cards, etc.

With AirPods, an Apple Watch Is good for Audible books, podcasts, and music.

I used to think that it was cool to just take an iPhone on a trip and be connected. Now, an Apple Watch with AirPods can suffice. For travel the only thing missing from the Apple Watch is not being able to read eBooks which is why AirPods and Audible fill an important use case.

Voice control gets better all the time and our always carry digital device can get very small.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#553

Post by jeremy_k »

p1necone wrote: post #486
Fezzik wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno... I was watching an NBA game* the other day and 4/5 players had AirPods in as they entered the arena and the other singleton had over the ear headphones. This totally caught me off-guard, and was so noticeable I made a mental note of it. * I know, not representative of the general population, and USA-centric, but the A list tends to be representative of what people want and, if they can afford it, what they…

I wouldn't be surprised if they were given them by apple for free - that's pretty good marketing.

Have you watched The Defiant Ones[1] on HBO? I can't exactly recall if they were giving Beats out to players for free, but there is a segment of the documentary where they talk about how ubiquitous Beats became because players were shown wearing them in the pregame. You could be pretty spot on with your assumption.

1 - https://www.hbo.com/the-defiant-ones

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#554

Post by nl »

paulddraper wrote: post #364
morganvachon wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just the numbers, there are other wild assumptions going on. > That means almost all iPhone users are still either using wired earphones or none at all. I'm sorry, what? Non-Apple branded Bluetooth earphones (including AirPod knockoffs) are ubiquitous, and far outnumber wired earphones (in part thanks to Apple and many Android OEMs dropping headset jacks).

Imagine thinking that AirPods were the first wireless headset.

The terminology "true wireless" became popular because of the wire linking the two sides on older bluetooth headsets.

When you think about it, the new usage (wireless = no wires at all) is more accurate than the old (wired, but not connected the the phone itself by wires)

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#555

Post by nl »

morganvachon wrote: post #217
paxys wrote: post #21

As always, none of the numbers are official, so take all of them with a huge grain of salt. The article also doesn't link to a single source, not even an unofficial one. > Assuming an even split of sales between Gen 1, Gen 2, and AirPods Pro, Airpods revenue was $12 billion in 2019 This itself is a terrible assumption. AirPods Pro launched in November 2019, so had just 2 months of sales. Even otherwise, there is neve…

It's not just the numbers, there are other wild assumptions going on. > That means almost all iPhone users are still either using wired earphones or none at all. I'm sorry, what? Non-Apple branded Bluetooth earphones (including AirPod knockoffs) are ubiquitous, and far outnumber wired earphones (in part thanks to Apple and many Android OEMs dropping headset jacks).

Non-Apple branded Bluetooth earphones (including AirPod knockoffs) are ubiquitous, and far outnumber wired earphones (in part thanks to Apple and many Android OEMs dropping headset jacks).

Do you mean they are ubiquitous with people using iPhones? Because here is Australia I would guesstimate that 80% of in-ear wireless earphone used with Apple devices are AirPods.

I think probably 50% of people I know who've bought an iPhone in the last year have bought AirPods at the same time (if they didn't already have them).

Over/On ear headphone are a different story, as is Android.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#556

Post by je42 »

Fnoord wrote: post #258
morganvachon wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just the numbers, there are other wild assumptions going on. > That means almost all iPhone users are still either using wired earphones or none at all. I'm sorry, what? Non-Apple branded Bluetooth earphones (including AirPod knockoffs) are ubiquitous, and far outnumber wired earphones (in part thanks to Apple and many Android OEMs dropping headset jacks).

> (in part thanks to Apple and many Android OEMs dropping headset jacks). That only happened on high-end smartphones. Low-end and mid-range still have 3.5 mm socket. (Also, I actually look around regularly at the train station, and I still see mostly wired headsets. I'm using a wireless one, btw.)

In NL, I see mainly AirPods. less wired. and some other wireless brands.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#557

Post by prox »

JoBrad wrote: post #542
scarface74 wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven’t needed to connect an iOS device to iTunes since iOS 5 in 2011.

It’s pretty much the main way to get any movies from a Windows personal drive on an iPad, etc., unless you’re using something like Plex. Edit: added Windows clarification

Not any longer, drop a file into iCloud, go to VLC, enjoy movie. The files app upgrade is pretty neat.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#558

Post by e40 »

dkonofalski wrote: post #308
ryanmcbride wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was an android hold out for a good while because I didn't like the lack of control iphones had. At some point it flipped and I got sick of how much fiddling I constantly had to do with my phone to get it to work the way I wanted. And even then by the time I got it working well, it wouldn't get updates anymore. I switched to iphone, and while once in a while I'll miss being able to tweak everything, I'm much less fr…

This has been my experience. I bought the original iPhone and thought it was cool but extremely limited. I recognize the huge impact it had on the industry, though. As much as I loved fiddling with my Nexus, at some point I realized that I was fiddling too much with it and would get frustrated that basic functions wouldn't work without issue. Android has changed a bit since then but I'm still on an iPhone now. I'm le…

I agree, but iPhone hardware is a lot more expensive than the Android phones I buy. Be on the Moto x4 for a couple of years. Messaging is a mess (Hangouts, Messages, etc) and yeah, there are things which are just buggy.

I've been thinking of jumping to iPhone for the watch and privacy features. It really grinds my gears how much Google has sold out its users.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#560

Post by kabacha »

addicted wrote: post #186
gz5 wrote: post #40

Amazing how Apple managed to make the first cool MP3 player, then the first cool smartphone and now the first cool bluetooth headset. For almost 20 years now, Apple has owned electronic fashion. Sony for example was unable to parlay its Walkman dominance into similar positions with new devices. And make no mistake about it - a huge portion of these sales are people buying Apple's marketing - not buying the tech itsel…

I strongly disagree about the fashion bit. The iPod was better than any competitor it faced ever. The UI with the click wheel was completely unmatched. Maybe the Zune, years later, came close, but Apple absolutely crushed it with the iPhone and iPod touch. The iPhone was leaps and bounds ahead of its time, to the point that the then King of the hill, BlackBerry, didn’t even think it was possible. And the smoothness o…

oof, this sort of writing is why I avoid any apple threads on hackernews. "X was better than Y" without any sort of support.

How come we have such high expectations for argument quality for every other topic other than how "apple is better" - it has reached the point where I read it and I almost jump to astroturfing conclusions. Fortunately for Apple their fans are dedicated enough to astroturf for free!

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