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AirPods where and are loathed by some, but ultimately they present a well designed product that made the underlying product category more seamless and consumer
by krsdcbl 3y ago
AirPods where and are loathed by some, but ultimately they present a well designed product that made the underlying product category more seamless and consumer friendly and accessible.
Their winning traits may seem banal, but in everyday carry objects small utility improvements play a huge role. Not having to deal with cables and increased range of movement are enough - what elevated AirPods though is that a visible, wearable product is an implicit fashion statement. Apples product designers succeeded in making st thing that is clearly recognisable and stands out against similar products already on the market, but is subtle enough not to disturb anything or polarise by totally overthrowing stylistic and societal convention. Perfect mix of identity and brand that is easy to integrate with your personal image.
Apple silicon is another kind of thing: it's just the same thing as before but cheaper and more powerful, without compromising any trait that made the predecessor products appealing.
Apple "reality" or whatever - I don't see carrying any of those same traits. It's much too visually disruptive to become an AirPod, it's much too close to similar products to be an M1, and on top of this it's success fully depends on expensive-to-produce software content within a technically complicated ecosystem, while Apple has long lost it's profile as a developer centric and welcoming brand and rather capitalized on it's ubiquity and alienated many developers who only still contribute to the platform it because they have too by sheer numbers.
Apple might be able to not totally fail spinning up the platform, because of buying power, image and again numbers.
But those just slightly more practical, still bulky and odd looking VR glasses are nowhere near replicating the seamless product fit of iPods, IPhones, AirPods or CPUs.
It's Metaverse all over again.
- hamandcheese 3y ago> Not having to deal with cables and increased range of movement are enough I don't think that's enough. AirPods "just work" in a way that no prior Bluetooth headset ever did. Everything else was a kludge, particularly when it came to switching between multiple devices.
- meepmorp 3y agoYeah. They're not perfect, and I've had problems with them a couple times, but they mostly just work. The audio latency is also better than anything else I've used.
- hamandcheese 3y agoAgreed. Not perfect, but good enough that I didn't hesitate to get a pair for my aging mother. She loves them!
- Too 3y agoNot only does it “just work”. The sound and noise canceling quality is fantastic. On par or even beating many larger over-ear headsets in same price range. (Talking about the gen 2 pro) I haven’t heard anything in-ear that comes close, disclaimer though I honestly haven’t tried many other in-ears in that price category.
- jwr 3y agoThis. The AirPods Pro were a game-changer for me: I could always have headphones in my pocket, and isolate myself from the world whenever I wanted. The 2nd generation surprised me with much better sound and noise cancelation. Don't get me wrong: over-ear Sonys (I have those) will still sound better and remove more noise. And my B&O H6 gen2 sound much better still if there is no noise around. But I can't have any of those with me at all times, I can't wear them when it's really hot outside or when it's really cold (because of head coverings). AirPods I just always throw in my jeans pocket and they work anytime, anywhere. It's not about a "fashion statement" as some say, it's about a really good product that changes your life patterns because it works so well.
- mahathu 3y agoYou can get way higher audio quality at half the price with the Truthear Hexas. There are a ton of good wired IEMd that are cheaper than Airpod Pros and knock them out of the park