“A survey of U.S. consumers by Bank of America Merrill Lynch found that a staggering 12% of the population was planning to buy Apple’s new wireless AirPods when they go on sale next month,” Ben Lovejoy reports for 9to5Mac. “That would represent total revenue of $3 billion.”
“Purchase intention surveys tend to be optimistic, it being easier to say you’ll buy something than actually going out and handing over the $159, but even for intenders, that’s a huge number,” Lovejoy reports.
“One of the key features of the AirPods is the inclusion of Apple’s new W1 chip for easier pairing with your iPhone, and that pairing propagating via the cloud to all your other Apple devices,” Lovejoy reports. “Early reviews of the AirPods said that they have weird looks, okay sound and really clever tech – but, unlike EarPods, don’t fall out of your ears.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Amazingly, 12% of U.S. consumers already seem to realize that Apple’s AirPods are game-changers!
As we wrote earlier this month, “An LTE-enabled Apple Watch and a pair of AirPods would supplant a great deal of iPhone’s current functions. Can’t innovate anymore, our collective ass.”
As for the AirPods looking alien: Tape a pair of wires on the ends of each and you’ll see that they look very much like the type of earphones that everyone is very used to seeing by now (which, for those who remember, we weren’t used to seeing before iPod – people thought those looked “alien,” too). We’ll all get used to the lack of wires soon enough. — MacDailyNews, September 14, 2016
SEE ALSO:
Bill Atkinson: Why Apple’s AirPods are the best place for Siri – September 28, 2016
Apple’s response to Amazon Echo: AirPods – September 20, 2016
Apple’s AirPods make Google Glass look even more ridiculous (if that’s even possible) – September 19, 2016
Why Silicon Valley is all wrong about Apple’s AirPods – September 17, 2016
Apple CEO Tim Cook: AirPods won’t fall out of your ears (with video) – September 14, 2016
What AirPods can tell us about Apple’s future – September 12, 2016
Hands-on with Apple’s new AirPods: Stayed in my ears, sounded awesome – September 10, 2016
Apple and a truly wireless future: AirPods are just the start – September 10, 2016
Whoever makes the first AirPods strap is going to get rich – September 8, 2016
I think I’ll get them. I love futuristic shit like that. It’s like the movie “Her” come to life. Hey Siri will you marry me?
I was planning on getting them as soon as they came out, but I told my wife I wanted them and now she wants to get them for me for Christmas. Me and my big mouth.
Does 12% seem like a reasonable number here? I suppose it depends upon how they define “consumers”. Seems really high to me.
It does seem on the high side, but even if demand is a quarter of that I think Apple might not be able to fill all orders before Christmas. They would have released them by now instead of “late October”. I suspect production issues or perhaps they’re gauging demand. At least it’s not such a complicated device as compared to the iPhone. I’m buying day one and will problaby pay a premium here in Eastern Europe.
“MacDailyNews Take: Amazingly, 12% of U.S. consumers already seem to realize that Apple’s AirPods are game-changers!”
12% is amazing? Wow!
They are ugly and ostentatious! Nuff said.
When they hide in the ears, then I will be impressed. Sheesh!
Tim Cook doesn’t release “game-changers”, he goes out of his way to create unbuyable, extremely overpriced, completely UNNECESSARY products!
As an Apple fanboy, unfortunately, I agree with the guts of your post.
You can survey 12% to buy almost anything. I’m sure they will get a lot interest from people who own iPhones. But that percent has been shrinking, especially worldwide. There will be the usual surge at the beginning from the usual suspects, but after that the competition will gain a great deal of market share. The competition is quite a bit better already. I think a much more interesting concept is how many iPhone 7’s Apple will sell in 2017. Many say the sell out is still less than the 6s at the same time last year. Apple built in lower sales from last year.