Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing? • Hacker News Board

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

#241

Post by jimbokun » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 11:11 PM UTC

kristianc wrote: post #129

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…

> 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 failed to compete against Apple because they weren't as good at software.

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

#242

Post by vinay427 » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 11:12 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #163

kristianc wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which I guess would explain why there are Android phones that crush the iPhone on tech specs but make a minuscule (and sometimes negative) proportion of the industry’s profit?

At this point no matter how amazing the Android is, I would find the iPhone easier. I've been using an iPhone for so long it's just second nature. At one point I was forced to use an Android for a month. I could just never get used to the interface.

It's actually quite remarkable to me that I can have such a different experience as a longtime Android device user and both of these experiences can coexist. I could never go back to the iPhone interface, and every time I have to use someone else's phone I'm always astounded at how hidden away the (few) options still available to me seem.

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

#243

Post by Fnoord » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 11:12 PM UTC

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…

My iRiver H340 was ahead of its time. It supported MP3 and Ogg Vorbis and had 40 GB, while the iPods of around that time were running around with 4 GB. Oh, and iTunes DRM.

I bought an iPod Classic later on (with 160 GB) to experience the genius usability of the iPod. Except, I didn't experience it.

The major innovation of the iPhone was that it had a capacitive touch UI (which allows finger use, gestures, etc). The iPhone did not have an App Store during release. It was missing a lot of features. It was Nokia who was the market leader around that point. I wish they fully bet on Maemo and capacitive touch instead of Windows Phone (they went the right way with the N9, but the predecessors were still too much on pen and resistive touch, or hybrid).

Right now, it is oddly enough Jolla who have a partly proprietary, partly FOSS, Linux-based OS (SFOS) for which you need a paid license for. After that, they won't track you though. The iPhone would've never sustained a big pie of the smartphone market though; it is Android which killed Nokia. Official SFOS has Android emulation.

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

#244

Post by themagician » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 11:12 PM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #175

themagician wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. After 2 years I had to buy a second pair. Apple apparently DOES offer battery service for these, but it's $49 PER AirPod. If it was $49 for both I might be up for it. Apple's battery service across the board is just too damn expensive. I get that it's the labor costs involved, but I wish they would put more thought into this. I have three older iPads, a few older iPhones and a MacBook Air that are perfectly usa…

Do they actually change the batteries in them, or do they just give you new airpods? I can't imagine the genius bar has tweezers and microscopes for battery replacements in-store...

I'm not sure since I've never done it. My guess would be that they just give you new ones, then send the old ones away somewhere to be refurbished and sold as such. This was my experience with iPhones in the early days, actually. Now they actually try to fix them on site if they can.

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

#245

Post by antimatter » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 11:13 PM UTC

barkingcat wrote: post #53

jackhalford wrote: post #17

I have a pair of Airpods. What bugs me most is that le lithium battery is not replaceable, and will degrade after a couple years. which makes these a high-end throwaway device...

almost everything apple makes has that feature ... degrades in a few years, throw away, buy another. ipads, iphones, even some modern mac laptops that have the disks soldered and batteries glued, etc.

Here's some of the Apple gear from my family.

Macbook Pro from 2008: Still boots iPhone 4 (2010): Still functioning (although obviously does not run latest OS) iPhone 5s (2013): Still functioning (running iOS 12 just fine) iPhone 7: (2016): Still flawless

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

#246

Post by jimbokun » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 11:13 PM UTC

aianus wrote: post #80

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…

Beats invented the first cool bluetooth headset.

So of course Apple bought them.

Wonder how much influence that had on current AirPods.

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

#247

Post by lolc » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 11:13 PM UTC

We're slowly turning into cyborgs. So far, the pieces are removable so the transformation has not truly started except for some people with disabilities. I wonder for how long that will remain true.

I expect to be the odd guy still using over-ear headphones at some point. When everybody just gets implants. Or maybe I'll just join the crowd when my hearing gets worse. Wouldn't want to miss out on music would I?

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

#248

Post by jasonshen » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 11:14 PM UTC

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).

Yeah this line alone also made me do a double take and question everything else he said

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

#249

Post by sandoooo » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 11:14 PM UTC

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…

Remember itunes? UI was horrible from day one and got worse over the years until they killed it. I don't think it was ever a dealbreaker. UI is not the whole story here.

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

#250

Post by saagarjha » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 11:14 PM UTC

kristianc wrote: post #135

eanzenberg wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about the marketing swaying people these days. People are going for the easiest devices to use that get out of the way and are high quality.

Which I guess would explain why there are Android phones that crush the iPhone on tech specs but make a minuscule (and sometimes negative) proportion of the industry’s profit?

> there are Android phones that crush the iPhone on tech specs

This is largely not true anymore. (In fact, in certain areas it would be appropriate to say that it's iPhone doing the "crushing".)