This is why Bay Area houses cost $2 million and why Enterprise SaaS is the only viable startup sector.
Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
261–270 of 696 posts
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#262A couple years ago, I got a bit of saltwater in my iPhone and the headphone jack failed. Since the next generation of iPhone (the iPhone X) was about to come out, I held onto it for a couple months and bought AirPods. I then realized this was Apple's real reason for eliminating the headphone jack. It had nothing to do with courage. It was about eliminating a deeply ingrained user habit so they could solve the problem…
I mean yeah they have an interest in selling more ear buds. But after having used Bluetooth headphones for a while, going back to wired headphones was pure hell.
> But after having used Bluetooth headphones for a while, going back to wired headphones was pure hell.
For me going back to wired was amazing. I no longer had to charge my headphone to listen to my music. Want to output to the speaker? Just unplug them physically.
I'm sure the airpod support this much better than the Bluetooth headphone I had on Android, but my biggest pet peeve was shutting them down each time I put them in my pocket, or else any call would go to them.
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#263Wish there was a way for public investors to invest in certain parts of a publicly traded company. If I believe in a certain project at Apple or Google, I want to fund it and get returns on my investment.
The problem is you now have investors voting on what the company should do. You buy Apple shares because you trust them to envision the future. I bet most punters would have put money on the next iPhone and nothing else. And also there is the issue of most money coming from index funds just chucking money at everything regardless.
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#264> That means almost all iPhone users are still either using wired earphones or none at all. Lol, or they're using other Bluetooth headphones?
The sentence before that is "First, unit sales of AirPods have significant room to grow from here.".
LOL indeed, is this what counts as market research/insight?
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those batteries are replaceable, just not by you (officially anyway).
And for $49 each, Apple will replace the batteries in your airpods. (they probably just replace them) If they aren't replaceable by you, they aren't replaceable.
You can buy a third-party battery an install it in other products with a bit of work. You cannot do this for AirPods.
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
I then realized this was Apple's real reason for eliminating the headphone jack. To do away with the point of failure that you so aptly illustrated by getting salt water in your phone? I wouldn't have bothered with the AirPods if my headphone jack had continued to function. That's you, though. There are clearly millions and millions of people who don't want wires.
> To do away with the point of failure that you so aptly illustrated by getting salt water in your phone? That's Apple's point of failure. The rest of the industry (mostly) has worked out how to make a headphone jack water-resistant, years before Apple made any phone water-resistant at that.
The rest of the industry (mostly) has worked out how to make a headphone jack water-resistant
Yes, by removing the headphone jack on high-end phones, just like Apple did.
Let's not pretend this is an Apple vs. The Rest Of The Industry sort of thing. The whole sector is going that way; Apple just took the lead.
See also: Floppy drives.
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
iTunes is very much alive for the majority of IPhone/iPad users.
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#268I really don't understand. Why would someone pay $120 for a product they can buy online from a off brand retailer for half the price? I must be missing something. How are airpods better than say Cambridge Audio Melomania's which are almost half the cost?
Have you used them? They’re ridiculously low friction. Stick them in your ears and they’re on and paired and ready. Take them out and they’re off. Store them and they’re charging. Trivial to swap them between Apple devices, easy to pair the first time. And they sound great considering their size. They’re little magic gizmos that make me (and millions of others) happy because they work so well.
I once was looking for my airpods for 15 minutes until I realized that I was wearing them. Never had that with any earbuds before. Admittedly I was wearing a beanie (cold outside), ready to leave home and it was in the morning (so still sleepy)
Edit: that's a good thing
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
Done this myself. They don't replace the battery but send you a new AirPod or charging case. My understanding is that opening an AirPod without damaging the plastic casing is close to impossible to do. My guess would be they replace them then strip the components out of your returned AirPod or charging case and recycle/reuse what they can.
BOM looks like <$10 (there's barely anything inside). Maybe $15 with those small batteries. I doubt it's economical to recycle. What's fascinating is that people are willing to pay so much over the BOM. But I guess that's Apple speciality making people do it.
I think you're significantly underestimating the BOM on those.
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
1) I don't know the estimates but I see it on the streets. Everyone and their dog has AirPods. I already have seen people with Pro version as well. I do not see people walking with their GoPros. If I go skiing I don't see people with their GoPro (people mostly just go skiing and then do some pictures with their phones from what I noticed), Chromecast I have seen some but not as many. There is no comparison. 2) There…
"If you are Apple" is the key part of it. A software company can be successful with a bunch of programmers and their laptops, and can go head-to-head with Google, Facebook or anyone else. That describes all the startups on the list. To emulate AirPods' success you need: - a chip design/fabrication team - a battery design team - procurement specialists and high-volume vendor contracts in Asia, with assembly lines read…
Or, build hardware for business verticals. Where market sizes are just double digit billions and Apple will not play.