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Techcrunch concluded "The price reveal turned any ‘would buy’ in the room into a ‘definitely not’ without hesitation." Anyways, bookmark the threads of folks c
by tempnow987 3y ago
Techcrunch concluded "The price reveal turned any ‘would buy’ in the room into a ‘definitely not’ without hesitation."
Anyways, bookmark the threads of folks calling an Apple product dead on arrival for a revisit in a few years.
The ipod, the iphone, the watch, the airpods... they've had a pretty good record and almost all these have had harsh criticism out the gate (while then going on to absolutely PRINT money for apple).
Apple is sitting on lots of cash and investment with operating cash flow of something like another $100B a year? Why aren't they allowed to take some risks on products like this. Facebook certainly has burnt billions in a similar space.
- dayvid 3y agoPeople paid $550 for a pair of headphones. They'll buy this if it's good
- permo-w 3y agoto be fair, $550 for a pair of headphones is a lot, but it's not even close to top of the range
- nunez 3y agoIt was definitely in the upper range of prices for over-the-ear Bluetooth headphones, not like this even matters, because people just _did not_ pay $500+ for headphones before the Maxes dropped.
- ztrww 3y agosome people obviously did pay $500+ for headphones. We don’t know how many sets has Apple actually sold…
- permo-w 3y ago>people just did not pay $500+ for headphones before the Maxes dropped are you sure? why do you think this?
- thih9 3y agoI think they’re saying that apple is selling $500 headphones to people who would otherwise not buy $500 headphones
- virgildotcodes 3y agoJust wanted to piggyback on this. I was just commenting today to my coworker on the number of people I see walking around Manhattan/Brooklyn with AirPods Maxes on. I swear I see at least a pair or two every other minute while walking down the street. Most of these people, like you said, we’re likely not blowing $500+ on headphones before Apple made that concept mainstream.
- x0x0 3y agoSure they were, or at least close. Beats: $400 out the door. Bose Quiet Comfort, whichever is the most recent: similar. Sony also sells ~$350-ish noise cancelling headphones. Going from $350 to $550 is roughly the normal apple premium. This is $3k.
- virgildotcodes 3y agoHonestly, nah. I don’t think the majority of these people were blowing 400 or 350 or whatever on alternatives beforehand. Granted, this is 100% anecdotal, but I’m seeing way more people rocking AirPods Max around the city every day than I remember ever seeing rocking over the ear headphones, let alone expensive ones.
- kaba0 3y agoI see airpods more often, but sure, apple did discover a huge market here (and not so kindly pushed people towards it by the removal of jack ports). But I don’t fault them, the airpod pros are really cool and the comfort of noise cancellation especially on public transport is a godsend and it makes sense that many people actually cough together the price for that.
- bradlys 3y ago> $550 for a pair of headphones is a lot, but it's not even close to top of the range It's top of the range for typical consumers. The people who wear Apple's $550 headphones aren't people who are buying Sennheiser HD800s'. Before, people would've spent $200 or up to $300 on the Bose ones. Apple got them to spend an extra $200-250. I'm surprised by how often I see these headphones. They were basically nonexistent in the Bay Area but I see them often enough in NYC.
- prng2021 3y agoExcept no one bought those headphones.
- budoso 3y ago[flagged]
- prng2021 3y agoYes. What percentage of people in the world who use headphones would you say is using them?
- d3nj4l 3y agoA far higher percentage than "no one"
- usea 3y agoOf people I see sitting at a computer, few are using them. For everyone else, airpods far outnumber all other kinds of headphones combined. Whether it's the grocery store or an airport. I can only speak to my experience. This is a subjective, bias-loaded anecdote. For example it could just be that they're newish, so I notice the novelty more. Or the design is easier to see. Etc etc.
- parasubvert 3y agoHere's what I know: Apple's wearable business (Airpods, Apple Watch, Airtags) is $41 billion annually, most of which is Airpods. I see Airpods Max everywhere: on the street, in the office, on zoom calls, and on airplanes. they're recognizable and common. I see other headphones also, and white airpods/airpods pros the most.
- ztrww 3y agoPeople were paying similar amounts for high-end headphones for years.
- brailsafe 3y agoNot the same people though
- gary_0 3y agoWhether or not it's the right device, it's definitely being introduced to the wrong economy.
- basisword 3y agoThe people that can afford this aren’t impacted by the economy. It’s a professional tool and the expense can be justified. It’s not a product for ordinary consumers yet. On top of that it’s not out until next year - who knows what the economy will be like then.
- spookie 3y agoYes, I feel a lot of people are too tied down to their biases and social bubbles. I'm working in the area and you see great use of these devices from medical, to architecture, and mechanical engineering. I understand the skepticism, but sometimes our perception of the world is quite narrow. Given that most of us are developers, even more so. I don't mean to be condescending, I just feel that way a lot with both myself and my colleagues when exposed to fields and constraints that we haven't seen before.
- gary_0 3y ago> It’s a professional tool That you use to look at family photos, use iPhone apps in a giant window, watch movies, and play with VR Mickey Mouse? The presentation seemed to lean more towards the consumer than industry applications.
- basisword 3y agoThey did but that mostly seemed silly to me. Multiple monitors was the main thing that jumped out as an actual good use case. They need to market all aspects of it but they’ve named it “pro” for a reason and I feel like there was a lot of focus out on productivity uses (conference calls, browsing, multiple displays, 3D Models).
- fomine3 3y ago
- chpmrc 3y agoI've never spent more than $400 for a smartphone, always bought second hand Android phones. My income went up in the last couple of years and a few months ago my phone broke. I bought a $900 iPhone. If it's good people will buy it. I will buy it. No doubt about that.
- cjohnson318 3y agoI've tried $100 phones from the Walmarts, and I've tried the top of the line Pixel phone a few years ago. Nothing comes close to a iOS or iPhones. I just wish they made a printer. I'd buy an Apply printer in a heartbeat, I don't care what it costs.
- Corrado 3y agoHear Hear! A printer and a WiFi AP!
- piva00 3y agoApple's used to have the AirPorts (Express and Extreme) as WiFi APs. They were pretty good.
- lowbloodsugar 3y agoGood old days: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserWriter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserWriter
- cjohnson318 3y agoOh wow. Dammit. Your link helped me find the Snow White Design Language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_design_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_design_language
- summerlight 3y ago> The ipod, the iphone, the watch, the airpods... they've had a pretty good record and almost all these have had harsh criticism out the gate (while then going on to absolutely PRINT money for apple). Looks like you and me have a completely different memory on this? iPod, iPhone were almost unanimously praised at the moment of announcement, thanks to Steve's magic. AirPod also received generally positive reactions. Apple Watch had a genuine issue on its product positioning and its success came after fixing that issue.
- tpmoney 3y agoThe reaction to the iPod that everyone remembers was "No wireless, less space than a Nomad, lame", never mind the criticism of an apple only device, or the cost (honestly, the mac mini and maybe the m1 airs are the only two devices I can think of apple has released that people didn't complain about the price). The iPhone in addition to pricing was also widely panned for being 2G only, for being AT&T only, for requiring a data plan, for not having a physical keyboard, for not having a stylus and for being something no one needed because our phones and ipods already do all of that. The iPhone did get a better reception than the iPod, but that's probably owed to the success of the iPod in proving Apple might just have an idea or two about how to make a new piece of cool tech, but it had plenty of poo-pooing by the tech class too.
- FabHK 3y ago> never mind the criticism of an apple only device The first iPod was predicated on FireWire and iTunes, which were basically only available on Macs at the time. (iTunes - Jan 2001, iPod - Oct 2001, iTunes Store - Apr 2003, iTunes for Windows - Oct 2003.)
- matt-attack 3y agoiPad was definitely mocked.
- hn_throwaway_99 3y agoI remember hardly any significant negative criticism of the iphone, watch, or airpods. Someone below brought up "when the iphone first came out it was 2G, was only on AT&T" - well, yeah, and those were very valid initial shortcomings that Apple pretty quickly rectified. With the Vision Pro, I see very few comments putting down the actual technological achievements here. Comments seem to be pretty universal in thinking this is the best VR device there is. But the valid question is people are still having a difficult time imagining real, extended use cases where it doesn't feel like a novelty. Personally, I think it's great Apple took a swing at this. I wouldn't be willing to bet one way or the other on its success, I think there are lots of unknowns, but I don't really have anything but high praise for the folks that built this.
- eric_cc 3y ago> I remember hardly any significant negative criticism of the iphone, watch, or airpods. Sounds like you have a memory problem. I’m sure you can find the threads archived if you need reminded of the criticisms.
- fomine3 3y agoWatch was criticized for its poor battery life and lack of usage other than health/training management. Now battery life is improved a bit and more health features added, but I think the OG criticize point is still valid. Why is it sold well is that it seems that many people care about health device than we expected.
- rvz 3y agoIt is the first version of the Vision Pro and I would expect it to fail due to its price. The second or third version maybe something worthy of the consumer having a look at. This is directly competing against the Quest Pro, and the Vision Pro is still at prices like the HoloLens. Apple will probably announce a 'Lite' version which will directly compete against Meta's cheaper Quest VR headsets. > Facebook certainly has burnt billions in a similar space. And their Quest VR headsets already outsold Xbox Series X/S. [0] [0] https://www.thevirtualreport.biz/data-and-research/65297/quest-2-vr-headset-outsells-xbox-series-xs-consoles/ https://www.thevirtualreport.biz/data-and-research/65297/que...
- Arn_Thor 3y agoHow do you define failure? I reckon that if people start to make apps for this device, then it’s served its purpose. The next generation, or “lite” version will arrive to an already-populated ecosystem. Meanwhile Apple will have a lot of data about what worked and what didn’t to tweak their direction.