Live data from Hacker News

Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

kevinrooke.com

41–50 of 696 posts

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

#41

Airpods are an integral part of Apple's future medical ambition. Always in ear Airpods constantly taking your Temp, HR, Glucose, GSR, etc. With the kicker that it is only stored locally and securely on your device, all processing done locally via HealthKit. That customized data will change how we think about patient care.

[deleted]

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

#42
At a time when Apple in many ways feels like it's stagnating, the AirPods are a breath of fresh air. With an "old Apple" focus on the details, they present a fantastic user experience and give me faith that Apple still has the ability to innovate when freed from the constraints of a long-lived, entrenched product.

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

#43

I've idly thought that Spotify should get into hardware. Headphones and/or speaker, purchase it connected to your account, and one touch button to a stream of music you like. Obviously a million times easier said than done, but has to be a better margin business than where they currently are and would be good lock in.

A “single purpose music box” would be neat to me. Maybe it controls all the speakers in my house, informs me of concerts coming up, let’s me set a mood, and most importantly doesn’t care about anything else.

I feel like every gadget being in one is gonna start breaking down now that software interop is more of a thing.

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

#44

Has anyone found any info/study on "average likelihood of losing or damaging an airpod in a given year"? That's all that's stopping me from buying this and other premium products. I love premium products but not if I have to replace them every year.

It's definitely anecdotal, but I know probably 30+ people who own Airpods and have never heard of anyone losing or having to have them replaced for any reason.

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

#45
post #24

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...

That doesn't differ from their other offerings... Their laptops and phones do not have replaceable batteries, why would their headphones?

Those batteries are replaceable, just not by you (officially anyway).

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

#46

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...

Or, you can pay to replace the battery. I've done it with an old iPhone6 and got back a pretty usable device.

battery replacements aren't a thing for AirPods. You can send them to Apple to be recycled, though.

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

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As opposed to the phone itself?

Once upon a day, phones had replaceable batteries. I'm still holding on to my ancient phone specifically because of that.

Quite a few of the replaceable battery devices I’ve had over the years got old, and then I had to be careful to not flex them badly, or the battery would momentarily disconnect and drop the power. Or you loose the battery cover, or the little plastic tab breaks and now it’s held on with tape or a rubber band.

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

#49

Airpods are an integral part of Apple's future medical ambition. Always in ear Airpods constantly taking your Temp, HR, Glucose, GSR, etc. With the kicker that it is only stored locally and securely on your device, all processing done locally via HealthKit. That customized data will change how we think about patient care.

> Always in ear

What percentage of Airpods owners do you reckon _always_ have them inside their ears?

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

#50
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…

Correct, these are all estimates. And the sales split is unclear, but both Airpods 2 and Airpods Pro have the benefit of launching before the holidays. They got a disproportionate number of sales from those 2 months. Even if everyone went with the $150 version (which is impossible), Airpods revenue would still be $9 billion at 60 million units. The point still stands though, Apple is making a killing off Airpods. Whether the exact number is $9 billion or $15 billion isn't as important.
Post reply on HN