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Most of those examples are not great. Tesla isn't making cars... they're making electric cars. The iPhone wasn't the first phone, or even mobile phone. It was

Most of those examples are not great. Tesla isn't making cars... they're making electric cars. The iPhone wasn't the first phone, or even mobile phone. It was the first mass market SmartPhone. Those products each have a differentiator. "Cool Wireless Headphones" isn't something new or novel.

boogies 6y ago
All of the examples. SpaceX is up against companies that made single-use rockets for decades. But the AirPods Max may have a technical differentiator (not even just an Apple logo!) — AFAIK they’re the first wireless headphones without an on/off switch! (perhaps some of the earlier ones that don’t work once Apple stops replacing the batteries, as well?)
toyg 6y ago
> "Cool Wireless Headphones" isn't something new or novel. That might well be, but the original AirPods were the first bluetooth headset I got that Actually Worked. BT earbuds quality was shockingly low before. It might well have been the classic Apple Timing phenomenon, when they release a product at the exact right time a technology is mature enough to work (e.g. large modern touchscreens etc), but they undeniably scored with what where, otherwise, pretty mediocre earbuds. They generally know what they are doing. This said, $500+ for earbuds of any kind is too much, for my values, particularly this year when people and countries are literally starving. It's bad taste.
- AgentOrange1234 6y ago
  Hrmn. There are an awful lot of luxury products out there. When folks are driving around on $50k+ cars, I’m not sure what’s wrong with $500+ headphones. (Not that I’m about to buy either.)
- 0x008 6y ago
  Well, the reason AirPods are great is the same reason why an M1 outclasses all intel competitors: they are optimized for a platform that is developed by one company.
  - necovek 6y ago
    It's pretty curious then that Airpod Max aren't: that movie watching experience is quite perplexing. I don't even want to imagine what people will get with non-Apple audio sources.
floatboth 6y ago
The first mass market smartphone was probably like.. the Nokia 3650? :P The iPhone was the first capacitive touch, finger friendly UI phone. The first OS release wasn't even that "smart" in that native apps could only be installed with a jailbreak.
voisin 6y ago
> first mass market SmartPhone. Remember Blackberry?

boogies 6y ago

All of the examples. SpaceX is up against companies that made single-use rockets for decades. But the AirPods Max may have a technical differentiator (not even just an Apple logo!) — AFAIK they’re the first wireless headphones without an on/off switch! (perhaps some of the earlier ones that don’t work once Apple stops replacing the batteries, as well?)

toyg 6y ago

> "Cool Wireless Headphones" isn't something new or novel. That might well be, but the original AirPods were the first bluetooth headset I got that Actually Worked. BT earbuds quality was shockingly low before. It might well have been the classic Apple Timing phenomenon, when they release a product at the exact right time a technology is mature enough to work (e.g. large modern touchscreens etc), but they undeniably scored with what where, otherwise, pretty mediocre earbuds. They generally know what they are doing. This said, $500+ for earbuds of any kind is too much, for my values, particularly this year when people and countries are literally starving. It's bad taste.

AgentOrange1234 6y ago
Hrmn. There are an awful lot of luxury products out there. When folks are driving around on $50k+ cars, I’m not sure what’s wrong with $500+ headphones. (Not that I’m about to buy either.)
0x008 6y ago
Well, the reason AirPods are great is the same reason why an M1 outclasses all intel competitors: they are optimized for a platform that is developed by one company.
- necovek 6y ago
  It's pretty curious then that Airpod Max aren't: that movie watching experience is quite perplexing. I don't even want to imagine what people will get with non-Apple audio sources.

floatboth 6y ago

The first mass market smartphone was probably like.. the Nokia 3650? :P The iPhone was the first capacitive touch, finger friendly UI phone. The first OS release wasn't even that "smart" in that native apps could only be installed with a jailbreak.

voisin 6y ago

> first mass market SmartPhone. Remember Blackberry?