Airpod sales benefit from one key feature: a big replacement market. They break and get lost...a lot.
Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
581–590 of 696 posts
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#582As accessories, sales are limited to iphone numbers... ...until Airpods get an eSIM (like apple watches) and become standalone products, they'll be earphones. Ear-phones, geddit? Telephones for your ears , they'll be like... oh never mind.
FWIW the 'phone' suffix just means relating to sound. A "tele-" phone transmits sound over distance. "ear" phones put sound in your ears. (Megaphone makes sounds loud, xylophone is a (traditionally) wood thing that makes sound, homophones sound the same, ...)
I know; it's a joke, conflating two common usages of "phone".
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#583Earlier 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…
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!
Okay here's ways in which I found the AirPods to be vastly superior to any other bluetooth headset or earbuds I've tried, including more expensive over-ear noise cancelling ones: -The H1 chip ensures a quick connection that's more stable than any other bluetooth device I've experienced. Much less pairing hassle and dropped connections and fiddling in menus. At a competitive price that already makes them superior to anything I'm aware was out for sale at the time. Add to that the tiny charging box that always keeps them topped up, and it's a winner for me. (This comment was indeed written at no cost)
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#584Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Damn Watch really unlocks macbook? I already sold mine (didn’t have a MacBook at the time) but I’ll consider purchasing one again, haha. Edit: shit, just realized how easy it is to fall into Apple’s trap.
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#585Earlier quoted context omitted.
My understanding is that the Airpods are not better than the high-end competition. There's plenty of $100-150 Bluetooth earbuds that have better sound quality, and a handful of sub-$100 ones that are just as good. You're paying for the name. https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-airpods-review-wireles... >The biggest downside? Their sound is just OK. AirPods produce a perfectly average sound that's clear in the mid-t…
With Airpods for the most part you're paying for the convenience and features. With the W1 chip they pair super fast and are really convenient to use. Sound quality is decent but something like the Sony WF1000xm3's will obviously blow them away.
Try saying WF-1000XM3 five times in a row. I have them and they sound awesome, but I can't deny that both the case and earbuds are much bulkier than AirPods, making one look "odd" when wearing them. Also the app is pretty horrible, it only sort of works 50% of the time.
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#586Earlier 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…
It’s already a meme on college campuses that you aren’t cool if you still have the ‘long stems’. I’d say pros are doing well.
Interesting.
Am college student, have not heard of this yet.
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#587Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I think primary because it doesn't have a dedicated back button. Why is this an issue? Do you need dedicated back and forward buttons to browse through your pictures? Of course not, you just swipe left and right. That’s how the iPhone handles the “back” movement.
facepalm I just clicked on an album in "Photos", I could scroll through them swiping left and right to go through the photos but now I have to rely on the arrow at the top left of the screen to go back to view all albums. I like having a back button always present on the buttom of my screen in Android for this.
Of course you don’t need to reach that far, my fingers are not even that long. Grab the middle of the photo with one finger and swipe down. Most (all?) navigations on iOS are swipe based. On another note, if I’m being honest I still miss the “main” button of iPhone after using iPhone 11 since it came out (3months).
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#588Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course you can make money making physical things.The only problem is you either make them premium or you have to sell zillions of units to make profit. We have "Apple" in every industry ( fashion, automotive, catering,etc.), however that's still only a handful.Making software is probably more likely to earn you tons of meney.
Which companies in the fashion industry are Apple-like?
LVMH.I believe it was Bernard Arnault who said that only luxury products can command luxury margins.
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#589Airpods 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.
>That customized data will change how we think about patient care. People keep repeating this almost like a PR slogan but is there any actual solid evidence that constantly measuring health data has a meaningful impact on average, healthy adults and is a reasonable thing to do? A non-diabetic person does not need to constantly measure their glucose level, and if anything slight anomalies in otherwise asymptomatic peo…
No. And there can't be. There were 0 generations that were able to track their parameters on a constant basis. If over time it is proven that it is useless we can stop doing it, but for now let's at least try to collect such data and make use of it...
There is still a problem with this PR, since everyone is talking about that, but technology is nowhere near to deliver on those promises. Hope the hype won't kill off real work in developing good sensors.
Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
#590Earlier quoted context omitted.
As somebody who really likes Airpods, I think they look ridiculous, but they work so darn well that the looks are totally irrelvant.
The cell phone Bluetooth headsets produced plenty of eyerolls when they were the thing a number of years back too. Probably for similar reasons--you never know when I may get a phone call that's more important than you. Personally, I don't wear these sorts of things in public but that's mostly because I hate being isolated from even relatively benign environments.
If you are in public you can hear anything through EarPods or AirPods they don’t cancel any noise. If I’m on the subway I can’t even hear the music haha. Interestingly, that’s a primary reason why I like it - I can roll
with my e-scooter and hear bikers and cars at the same time.