“Finally ditching the headphone jack dongle makes sense. We’ve had two years of transition time, and those who have a pair of wired headphones they truly love could purchase an adapter from a retailer,” Christina Bonnington writes for Slate. “But perhaps it’s time for Apple to go one step further. The company shouldn’t just eliminate that dongle from new iPhone purchases. It should swap out those wired EarPods in favor of an included pair of AirPods.”
“There’s good reason Apple hasn’t done this yet. AirPods run at $159 a pop while its Lightning-connected EarPods cost only $29. If Apple were to include AirPods in the box with a new iPhone, it would likely come at a proportionately increased cost—likely at least $100 or $130 on top of the price of the iPhone itself,” Bonnington writes. “But by including AirPods in the box with a new iPhone purchase, Apple does itself a favor on a number of fronts. It finally draws consumers away from their reliance on wired iPhone earbuds; it makes the device mainstream, rather than a niche accessory for early adopters; and most importantly, it draws iOS users further into the Apple ecosystem—and potentially away from looming competitors like Google and Amazon. ”
Bonnington writes, “Even if Apple included AirPods with the new iPhone at no additional cost, Apple would stand to gain more from this change in the long run than it would lose in profits.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Versus the old way of lugging around an iPhone with corded earphones or even with wireless earbuds, there’s nothing as freeing as going on a run with just your Apple Watch and a pair of AirPods!
Including AirPods in the box may make sense if Apple can make enough (a big if, as AirPods are frequently out of stock) and make them inexpensively enough.
Apple could do this with the higher end iPhones.
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If they are included and the iPhone costs extra there will be a class action lawsuit again. “Apple forcing us to buy something we don’t want’, Just like the people complaining that Mac Donalds is forcing them to buy cheese with their Big Macs
When they can be had in Black & Apple can assure customers the battery will not have a meltdown in their ear canal…
Some people already have AirPods, some people do not like AirPods, and some people already use a product from some other vendor.
A better approach is discounting AirPods when purchased as a bundle with an iPhone. That way, people who want AirPods feel like they are getting a better deal. People who do not want AirPods do not feel like they are being coerced into paying for them. And Apple increases AirPod market penetration while coming across as the good guy by providing a discount to the consumer.
“and potentially away from looming competitors like Google and Amazon”
hahahahahahahahah. Ohhhh, good one.