“Apple wants to push consumers further into a wireless world. Its tactics: Eliminate the standard headphone jack in its newest iPhones and market new “AirPods” — tiny wireless earbuds that the company claims greatly improve on standard Bluetooth technology,” Brandon Bailey reports for Associated Press. “But that strategy has some risks.”
“Start with the AirPods themselves. These are a pair of earbuds, each with an inch or so of protruding plastic, and nothing else — no wires to hold them together, no dangling cords,” Bailey reports. “If they live up to Apple’s claims, they’re a technological marvel, tiny and expensive. And, perhaps, also easily dislodged or misplaced. Analysts at IHS Technology say that Apple used a smooth-surfaced design that doesn’t conform to the shape of the ear, and note that having AirPods fall out while running or biking ‘is less forgivable at the $159 cost level.’ Or as Bob O’Donnell, a veteran consumer tech analyst at Technalysis Research, puts it: ‘You start losing those things at $160 a pair, you’re going to go crazy.'”
MacDailyNews Take: See: Whoever makes the first AirPods strap is going to get rich.
“Apple senior vice president Philip Schiller made it clear Wednesday that the company sees a future where its sleek gadgets are no longer encumbered by cords at all. ‘It makes no sense to tether ourselves with cables to our mobile devices,’ he said during the company’s annual fall product event,” Bailey reports. “Apple did make an effort to improve on standard Bluetooth technology, which can be unreliable and obstinate when used to ‘pair’ wireless headsets with phones or other devices. The new AirPods are based on Bluetooth standards. But in addition to special sensors, a microphone and noise canceling technology, they have a processor chip designed by Apple, combined with software that Apple says will make it simple to sync them with an iPhone, Apple Watch and other Apple gadgets… The new ‘AirPods’ will work with Bluetooth-enabled devices made by Apple’s rivals, but they won’t have the ease-of-pairing that comes with Apple’s software.”
“Some early reviewers are already captivated by the AirPod,” Bailey reports. “‘They fixed Bluetooth headsets,’ said tech analyst Patrick Moorhead, of Moor Insights & Strategy, after trying a pair. ‘I think Apple has a real winner here.'”
Read more in the full article here.
SEE ALSO:
Whoever makes the first AirPods strap is going to get rich – September 8, 2016
iPhone 7/Plus is a $5 billion opportunity for Beats – September 8, 2016
By killing the 3.5mm headphone jack, Apple is doing something extraordinary for music sound quality – September 8, 2016
No headphone jack? No problem: How to listen to music while you sync and charge your new iPhone 7/Plus – September 8, 2016
Apple VP calls 3.5mm headphone jack ‘a dinosaur,’ says ‘it’s time to move on’ – September 8, 2016
Apple kills the headphone jack – September 7, 2016
Apple reinvents the wireless headphone with AirPods – September 7, 2016
Apple’s iPhone reveal: Death of antiquated 3.5mm headphone jack heightens anticipation – September 7, 2016
Wher the puck is going…
W1 will be a staple.
Make sure you enable the Find My AirPods feature!
Apple could make more profit on AirPods than on the watch.
Winners will take it all.
Next gen need wireless charging to complete the circle.
The same tech press singing the praises of the Galaxy S-7, before it became clear it was exploding and setting hotel rooms on fire, is whining about the freaking headphone jack being replaced by a much more functional lightning port. Now, we hear the utterly ridiculous complaint that the phone cannot be charged while listening to the headphones. Who listens to their headphones, feathered to a charging wire? AAPL punished for being too innovative, not innovative enough. I would bet that the new jet black iPhone, with the A10 processor, lightening port headphones, water resistance, incredible camera innovations, upcoming wireless ear buds and slick new iOS 10 will not spontaneously combust.
Who pays you to write this blather on behalf of Apple?
I CHARGE MY IPHONE IN THE CAR WHILE PLUGGING INTO THE STEREO JACK.
I am not replacing my car or buying a bunch of adapters for home and car use in order to buy a more expensive iPhone. I am not the only one. If Apple thinks the iPhone 7 is more desirable to people like me, they are mistaken.
No one pays me to blather. Who pays you to listen to your iPhone with headphone when driving? If not and you are charging and plugging into a stereo input on the car, using an older model iPhone is probably the right move for you. If you are listening on the headphones, please stop. When you start your post with unnecessary hostility, you might want to consider more civility, if you want anyone to give a damn about what you are saying.
Civility on the internet–what a concept! After twenty years of this new medium of communication, one has become conditioned to accept unfiltered emotional outbursts as normal. Some have even argued that the internet improves upon the principle of free speech, by removing the cowardly veneer of politeness that once made speech less free. One can speak one’s unvarnished mind on the internet without the deterrent of being punched in the nose. Ah, Progress!
i hate wires and paperwork .. (paper end of things have more or less been solved )
Whenever I hear or read about the coming “wireless world” it usually makes me think of Robert Heinlein’s short story “Waldo”.
How’s the “paperless” world working out for you? Enough said.
When everything is wireless there will be no privacy or security.
Just an observation.