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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?

#561

Post by kabacha »

_trampeltier wrote: post #181
kristianc wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And make no mistake about it - a huge portion of these sales are people buying Apple's marketing - not buying the tech itself. By definition all of the businesses that survive are good at marketing - Apple has managed to drive extraordinary value through positioning and differentiation and left everyone else to compete over the collapsing middle market. Sony’s precise problem was underinvesting on positioning and b…

Sony's problem was never the hardware or the design. The problem was, special in the beginning of the MP3 / Smartphone age, they tryed to lock everything so hard with DRM (because other parts from Sony does sell Movies and Music). The even installed something like an trojan already very early in the MP3 market. So al lot of tech guys said "bye, bye Sony" when the market still was very young. I think they lost a lot b…

Yup Sony's investment into technology and media is a very tough balance and pretty much the reason why their endevours can't excell even with some of the best ideas and talent behind them.

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

#562

Post by peteretep »

wyclif wrote: post #540
tim333 wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Singapore, I see a lot of airpods though it probably depends on the area.

I should have been more specific. Probably should have said, "everywhere in SE Asia outside of Singapore."

I was thinking Bangkok, where almost everyone is rocking some kinda wireless headphones. Lots and lots and lots of cheap AirPod knockoffs

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

#563

Post by zepto »

baybal2 wrote: post #470
zepto wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Including the W1 and H1 silicon?

Given that the man is an analog extraordinaire, there shouldn't be any reason for them to hire him for anything but that I believe.

Are you saying the H1 and W1 could have been designed by a lower tier OEM?

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

#564

Post by ksec »

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…

>As always, none of the numbers are official,

Not only were they unofficial, the guess work was wrong. And even the facts were wrong. What annoys me is the blog is actually for investment. ( With Email Newsletter suggesting sign up for insight )

>Since 2017, Apple has sold roughly 215 million iPhones per year. These phones cost roughly $1,000 each, and therefore generate $215 billion of revenue for Apple each year. This makes up 81% of Apple’s total revenue

There is no need to guess. Apple actually report ASP when they were reporting Sales Unit Number. In 2017 their iPhone ASP were 618 - 697 depending on Quarter. In 2018 their iPhone ASP were 728 - 793. They stopped reporting unit and ASP in 2019.

Apple Fiscal 2017, 2018, 2019 Revenue was $229.234B, $265.595B, $259.97B And iPhone Revenue was $141.29 , $166.8B, iPhone % of revenue was ~62% to of their revenue.

Not 80%.

The blog post could have been so much better if he spend 10min actually looking up those number.

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

#565

Post by holografix »

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…

Not so sure about _the first_ but might agree to _the coolest_ ;-) Motorola Razr was very cool when it came out.

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

#567

Post by holografix »

toasterlovin wrote: post #541
ikeboy wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been switching between my Ubuntu laptop and Android phone. Pretty simple, I do need to disconnect it manually on one device before switching to the other but that takes a second. I don't believe Airpods would be any better in that scenario.

> ...but that takes a second. A huge percentage of our species gladly trade money for, objectively speaking, very minor improvements in convenience or experience. Apple has been taking this fact to the bank for 30 years. You may not have the same preferences, but you're probably in the minority. FWIW.

I think our perception of improvement is not linear when it comes to a lot of things, one of them being the “convenience of time” and we attribute an strong preference for something objectively better even if the improvement is marginal. The “slightly sharper camera lens” or “slightly lighter bike”. In terms of time, waiting 30 or 20 seconds for a computer to boot up won’t make much difference to most people but waiting 10 or 1 second makes a huge difference in perception.

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

#568

Post by NikolaNovak »

paulddraper wrote: post #430
jtbayly wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine thinking the AirPods are a "headset."

Aren't they? https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/headset

In my environment we tend to call "Headset" something that is set up for quality conversations (think gaming or office headsets - large earmuffs and microphone boom being defining quality) and "Headphones" things that are intended primarily for consuming/listening (which may incidentally have a microphone, typically inferior).

Understanding that may not be wider usage, I feel there exists a need (or at least benefit) for two words - something which is good/intended for listening, and something which is good/intended for conversing.

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

#569

Post by read_if_gay_ »

zakki wrote: post #128
read_if_gay_ wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then it’s just a matter of what you think is easy enough to be called replaceable. I would wager for most consumers a MacBook battery is not in that category.

That most consumers will come to Apple with their laptop for a service and Genius will replace the battery. Will genius replace the battery for their AirPods?

When they “replaced the battery” on my dads iPad Pro they just sent him a new one. I don’t know if that holds for MacBooks as well, it might depend on the model: the 12” MacBook’s layered battery might be pretty hard to replace.

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

#570

Post by philjohn »

freepor wrote: post #138
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…

It’s not just the marketing - it’s that if you buy all of your tech from Apple you have 1) top-quartile product quality and 2) remarkable little upkeep to do compared to compiling a collection of multiple brands.

it's also the ecosystem.

I have an Apple Watch, it unlocks my laptop automatically. My AirPods connect seamlessly to my phone for listening to music, my watch when I'm working out and my laptop when I'm doing video calls at work. Continuity, AirDrop, AirPlay ... you can't deny that Apple has built an impressive ecosystem.

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