AirPods Slip to 4 Week Delivery Estimates for Most Countries

[MacRumors]

After launching on Apple.com early yesterday with a delivery window somewhere between December 19 and December 22 for most countries, Apple's new wireless headphones have now slipped to 4 week delivery estimates for most launch countries and territories. Within 90 minutes, shipping windows for Apple's United States website slipped to 4 weeks yesterday, but most European countries held onto deliveries before Christmas for a while longer, as well as having estimates a few days ahead of U.S. customers.

Now, for most territories in Europe where the AirPods are available shipping dates have lengthened to 4 weeks, including: France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Italy, and more. Elsewhere around the world, Apple.com in Singapore, Japan, and Australia have all had their AirPods shipping estimates slip to 4 weeks into 2017. In total, AirPods are available in more than 100 countries.

When they debuted on Apple.com, the company noted that the first round of AirPods shipments would be available in "limited quantities," meaning many of its customers missed out on the opportunity to purchase the wireless headphones as Christmas presents. There remains a sliver of hope, however, with Apple noting that its retail stores will receive "regular AirPods shipments," but it's not clear which stores specifically, and when they'll begin getting the shipments. Apple authorized resellers and select carriers will also get some AirPods inventory next week.

Apple has also added a few support pages onto its website centering around how to use the AirPods, adjusting its features, and the device's various technical specifications.

Article Link: AirPods Slip to 4 Week Delivery Estimates for Most Countries

 

[Zirel]

Steve Jobs would never let this happen.

The Chinese HAVE to make these faster, even if they die doing so.

Tim Cook and Jony Ive must go, they need to make these thick and ugly so people don't buy.

/s

 

[jmh600cbr]

incase anyone hadn't realized yet they had production yield issues.

 

[A MacBook lover]

Aww man! The hateful negative comments on macrumors didn't work

 

[Pbrutto]

Should have bought 2, one for me and one for somebody willing to pay whatever to have it as a Christmas present. I always forget to do that......

 

[mark-in-mk]

Cant wait for the Airpod / Pencil Combo deals on Ebay

 

[Mac 128]

Depending on when a customer who bought an iPhone 7 on release day heard that the AirPods, they've been waiting for since October, were shipping; they might not have them until 6 months into their ownership of the iPhone 7. If they upgrade every year, that's half the life of the iPhone 7, the first iphone that needed the AirPods, and maybe even the reason a customer bought the iPhone 7 in the first place instead of holding off. Apple sure knows how to play a customer to maximize sales and profits! ;-)

 

[QCassidy352]

I cannot imagine these staying securely in one's ears during exercise. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[dannys1]

Well this is taking the pi....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Official-...cf7692&pid=100011&rk=6&rkt=12&sd=252681495591
[doublepost=1481726289][/doublepost]

the first iphone that needed the AirPods

It doesn't "need" the AirPods though.

 

[miknos]

I cannot imagine these staying securely in one's ears during exercise. Hope I'm wrong.

Saw three reviewers saying they stay in your ear without feeling like it's gonna fall when you're running or jumping around.

I would love to get a pair of those for my wife. She leaves the tv so loud at night I can't sleep. Sometimes I feel like killing her but for now I cannot spend extra money on insurance.

 

[NoahK17]

Should have bought 2, one for me and one for somebody willing to pay whatever to have it as a Christmas present. I always forget to do that......

What are they going for on eBay now? Maybe I'll sell mine...

 

[adamjackson]

I think this image says a lot about where Apple is. You have to look at their product images to see their direction and while it's not one I currently buy into, it is much more mainstream than people on MacRumors are. Most of us are power-users but this is essentially Apple's way now.

An iPhone 7, Jet Black, no case, beautiful, thin and reflective. An eye catcher. an Aluminum watch w/ White sport band set to a very simple almost no value watch face..no widgets, guides, etc except how many times you moved today. AirPods sitting alone w/o any cables and a MacBook with an Apple Music subscription storing nothing locally, cloud, portability, not charging just sitting solo w/o cables hooked up to the Internet in full-screen mode (very iOS like).

Nothing about this image speaks to the professional in me with 8 external devices, a 1TB SSD, 32GB of RAM, all day battery life editing RAW images on an external display with a full-size mechanical keyboard and mouse.

It's almost like a fashion advert and not one on computing at least my definition of computing. But I am pretty sure Apple sells a ton of what's photoed here. The low-end apple watch, jet black iPhone, AirPods and the MacBook. This satisfied 99% of the computing needs for 99% of people who literally just use their devices for selfies, Facebook, Snapchat and youtube.

My GF has this setup except her notebook is a 13" MBP with the smallest SSD and 8GB of RAM and for her needs of shopping, emails and staying in touch with friends, it's overkill. She would be just fine with this setup. She is Apple's target audience.

I think we here on MR are out of touch with today's mainstream computing. No one needs 4 processor cores or 32 GB of RAM..not no one but the single digit percentage of us that do need these things is barely a blip on any company's radar when their goal is profitability.

 

[MrGimper]

As much as I'm an Apple Fanboy, I can't see me replacing my current wireless earbuds with these any time soon. By "current wireless earbuds" I mean my Jaybird X2's, and by "anytime soon" I mean ever.

 

[Remy149]

Depending on when a customer who bought an iPhone 7 on release day heard that the AirPods, they've been waiting for since October, were shipping; they might not have them until 6 months into their ownership of the iPhone 7. If they upgrade every year, that's half the life of the iPhone 7, the first iphone that needed the AirPods, and maybe even the reason a customer bought the iPhone 7 in the first place instead of holding off. Apple sure knows how to play a customer to maximize sales and profits! ;-)

Or they could buy beats with the w1 chip like I did or any other cheap to expensive Bluetooth headphones on the market I can't imagine there are that many costumers who upgraded just to use a pair of headphones that would have also worked with their old phone

 

[shareef777]

I was excited about these until I got my 2016 MBP. Using that bug infested POS for the past month leaves little doubt that this is a sinking ship. For those that cry about negativity, I'll just say check my previous posts. I've been supporting the MBP before it was announced, and well after. But a month of first hand experience tells me that Apple just wants to get products out the door and $$$ into their pockets. They'll figure out the rest later. User experience is NOT their first goal. Sales/profits are. TCook era is well underway.

 

[ShadowYYZ]

Think it's a hype thing? Should I just wait till the demand calms or
This is a nes classic scalper fest on eBay

 

[ChrisMoBro]

I would love to buy these but the sound quality of Apple earphones suck and the general design of these are identical to their other headphones. I'm not paying this much for poor audio quality.

 

[triton100]

I think this image says a lot about where Apple is. You have to look at their product images to see their direction and while it's not one I currently buy into, it is much more mainstream than people on MacRumors are. Most of us are power-users but this is essentially Apple's way now.

An iPhone 7, Jet Black, no case, beautiful, thin and reflective. An eye catcher. an Aluminum watch w/ White sport band set to a very simple almost no value watch face..no widgets, guides, etc except how many times you moved today. AirPods sitting alone w/o any cables and a MacBook with an Apple Music subscription storing nothing locally, cloud, portability, not charging just sitting solo w/o cables hooked up to the Internet in full-screen mode (very iOS like).

Nothing about this image speaks to the professional in me with 8 external devices, a 1TB SSD, 32GB of RAM, all day battery life editing RAW images on an external display with a full-size mechanical keyboard and mouse.

It's almost like a fashion advert and not one on computing at least my definition of computing. But I am pretty sure Apple sells a ton of what's photoed here. The low-end apple watch, jet black iPhone, AirPods and the MacBook. This satisfied 99% of the computing needs for 99% of people who literally just use their devices for selfies, Facebook, Snapchat and youtube.

My GF has this setup except her notebook is a 13" MBP with the smallest SSD and 8GB of RAM and for her needs of shopping, emails and staying in touch with friends, it's overkill. She would be just fine with this setup. She is Apple's target audience.

I think we here on MR are out of touch with today's mainstream computing. No one needs 4 processor cores or 32 GB of RAM..not no one but the single digit percentage of us that do need these things is barely a blip on any company's radar when their goal is profitability.

It's a marketing photo. It needs to be clean looking to reflect apples ethos of minimalism.

You're reading way too much into it.
[doublepost=1481727993][/doublepost]

I was excited about these until I got my 2016 MBP. Using that bug infested POS for the past month leaves little doubt that this is a sinking ship. For those that cry about negativity, I'll just say check my previous posts. I've been supporting the MBP before it was announced, and well after. But a month of first hand experience tells me that Apple just wants to get products out the door and $$$ into their pockets. They'll figure out the rest later. User experience is NOT their first goal. Sales/profits are. TCook era is well underway.

That's disappointing to hear. Although it's a huge Pain have you not returned the hardware for replacement or repair ?

 

[dannyyankou]

I cannot imagine these staying securely in one's ears during exercise. Hope I'm wrong.

The wired stay in my ears and the cable is like 80 of the weight pulling down. I imagine they'll be fine.

 

[kissmo]

Do these shipments slip to new orders or to old ones too?
I still have December 20 in Hungary.

 

[honglong1976]

As they are separate, why doesn't Apple ship one now and the other earphone after xmas

Amazing Apple can sell something at a really high price that offers exactly the same quality as the free buds or worst (due to it being wireless).

I will wait till Apple:

1. make earphones that don't look ridiculous
2. are better than the free earphones
3. are not made from super slippy plastic
4. Have decent sound quality
5. Provide some kind of noise isolation/cancellation

I remember buying the Apple dual armature earphones £49 and they sucked! I tried my ear-pods again (versus my sennhieser cx300mkII which cost me about £12.99 5 years ago). No comparison. The earpods look better but sound awful! No noise isolation and one fell out my ear when I moved around. I had to put the volume half way on the earpods to have the same loudness as the sennheiser one 1 notch on my macbook pro.

 

[happyslayer]

Saw three reviewers saying they stay in your ear without feeling like it's gonna fall when you're running or jumping around.

I would love to get a pair of those for my wife. She leaves the tv so loud at night I can't sleep. Sometimes I feel like killing her but for now I cannot spend extra money on insurance.

That is some freakin' disturbing stuff right there.

To the subject at hand: Im going to try to snag a pair at an Apple Store next week. I have a few in my area to try.

 

[beanbaguk]

They probably kept losing them.....

 

[Mac 128]

Well this is taking the pi....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Official-Apple-AirPods-Guarantee-Delivery-before-Christmas-only-5-pairs-left/152355130374?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid=222007&algo=SIC.MBE&ao=1&asc=38661&meid=1593e6f7cbb740d28165d296cdcf7692&pid=100011&rk=6&rkt=12&sd=252681495591
[doublepost=1481726289][/doublepost]

It doesn't "need" the AirPods though.

Depends on what your needs are. A person who doesn't want to carry around adapters to use their old headphones, or a second set of headphones to use with anything that doesn't have a Lightning port (as the included EarPods don't work with Macs or anything else), anyone who wants to charge and listen at the same time, or use any other Lightning accessory while using the earbuds ... These are concerns, Especially for anyone who has tried BT headphones and were frustrated with the pairing process, and the drop outs, reliability, and poor battery life that come with them. Anybody who has even one of those concerns "needs" the AirPods to effectively ameliorate the loss of the headphone jack.

Or they could buy beats with the w1 chip like I did or any other cheap to expensive Bluetooth headphones on the market I can't imagine there are that many costumers who upgraded just to use a pair of headphones that would have also worked with their old phone

Well until a week ago, the only Beats with a W1 chip was the Studio 3, a significantly more expensive, heavier and bulky alternative. The PowerBeats 3 are not for everybody either -- and for that matter neither are Beats. So that's it: two choices, in prices, and styles customers may not want, with sound profiles they may not want. Add to that, a customer who buys either of those headphones, has to carry around a micro-USB cable to charge them, in addition to their Lightning cable needed for everything else.

As for your suggestion to buy a new pair of BT headphones without the W1 chip, that's kind of ridiculous, especially if the customer has previously tried BT and found it to be lacking for a number of widely criticized reasons. Who would invest in cumbersome, unreliable, old technology, when Apple just announced a revolution in wireless headphones, significantly improving ease of use, reliability, quality, and power?

The point you're missing is that the AirPods ameliorated the removal of the headphone jack, by improving BT, and many of the greatest criticisms about it. Moreover, they said those essential AirPods would be available within a month of the iPhone 7 release, encouraging customers to buy the iPhone 7 knowing that they would have a state of the art solution shortly thereafter -- which has not been the case.

 

[2457282]

I think this image says a lot about where Apple is. You have to look at their product images to see their direction and while it's not one I currently buy into, it is much more mainstream than people on MacRumors are. Most of us are power-users but this is essentially Apple's way now.

An iPhone 7, Jet Black, no case, beautiful, thin and reflective. An eye catcher. an Aluminum watch w/ White sport band set to a very simple almost no value watch face..no widgets, guides, etc except how many times you moved today. AirPods sitting alone w/o any cables and a MacBook with an Apple Music subscription storing nothing locally, cloud, portability, not charging just sitting solo w/o cables hooked up to the Internet in full-screen mode (very iOS like).

Nothing about this image speaks to the professional in me with 8 external devices, a 1TB SSD, 32GB of RAM, all day battery life editing RAW images on an external display with a full-size mechanical keyboard and mouse.

It's almost like a fashion advert and not one on computing at least my definition of computing. But I am pretty sure Apple sells a ton of what's photoed here. The low-end apple watch, jet black iPhone, AirPods and the MacBook. This satisfied 99% of the computing needs for 99% of people who literally just use their devices for selfies, Facebook, Snapchat and youtube.

My GF has this setup except her notebook is a 13" MBP with the smallest SSD and 8GB of RAM and for her needs of shopping, emails and staying in touch with friends, it's overkill. She would be just fine with this setup. She is Apple's target audience.

I think we here on MR are out of touch with today's mainstream computing. No one needs 4 processor cores or 32 GB of RAM..not no one but the single digit percentage of us that do need these things is barely a blip on any company's radar when their goal is profitability.

Very well articulated. Two thoughts on your statements. One is that it may be more than 1%, but I do find that the hardware that Apple is producing (and most companies at this point) continue to increase in power and capability to address significantly more and more users. So, if by my take, Apple is excluding 5% of the power users, it won't be long for that to shrink to your 1%. My second point, is that given that the hardware addresses so much of the user base, what is lacking is the software. Apple used to provide a great photo editing and management application in Aperture. Now we have Photos, not quite as good (but it has improved). Apple has an office suite, but is not meant for professionals and cannot compete with MS-Office. I could go on. The point is that even if the hardware is there, the software is probably only addressing 80% of users. The rest must invest in purchasing additional software to meet their needs. Although I get the anger from the pro users, I think that Apple is really missing the opportunity on the software side. If I have to buy MS-Office or Photoshop because the Apple software does not meet my needs, then I could just as easily buy them on a different platform. Apple needs to close this gap.