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AirPods Might Not Launch Until January 2017

Apple just lost a customer! What a joke.

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Nikhil72 said:
None of their products have ever been available day of announcement. iPhone? iPads? Given the sizeable numbers they move at the beginning of iPhone sales, shouldn't be something to scoff at.
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I also think that the 2 week delay we experience every September when new iPhones are announced is a deliberate marketing ploy. They announce the product, they make it sound 'magical', anticipation builds for two weeks, and then people rush to the stores on launch day.

But I think this delay is different. It sounds like a quality control issue. The supplier has rushed to meet the deadline, but Apple has reviewed what they have produced and they aren't up to Apple' standards. So we wait.

I don't think this is a cause for any valid criticism of Tim Cook. This is a scenario similar to that of the white iPhone 4, which was well within Steve Jobs's time. It's the right thing to do to maintain standards.

The fact that these will miss the Christmas window is a very significant matter for Apple. It won't have been done lightly.


NT1440 said:
No, I walk around at work 8 hours a day with a single earbud hanging out of my head. The second they revealed the single pod mode I reached for my wallet. I won't have to have wires hanging down my neck into my shirt anymore or when I'm biking.

I HATE the bluetooth earbuds that connect with a wire (not comfortable for me and still ends up with an earpiece hanging down my shirt because I have to have one ear open to listen to incoming radio calls) and I can't stand the "suction cup" earphones that block off your ear entirely.

EarPods have always been my favorite headphones for comfort and functionality (I listen almost exclusively to podcasts and Congressional/Senate hearings) so Airpods are fulfilling my use case 100%.

Can't wait.
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I completely agree with your usage needs. And I also dislike the 'earbud dangle'.

I ended up buying Aftershokz's bone-conductive headphones for running and riding. You can still hear / be aware of your surroundings and also listen to your podcast or music. I think they're brilliant, but they do connect behind your head, which can be annoying in a new way. I love the headphone, but I am v curious about what the Air pods will be like in real life. Apple's ear buds don't sit in my ears very well, but the cable may not help with that. It will be interesting to see them in real life.
 
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Bought some Bose QC30s and they are fantastic especially for a noisy office environment. Wanted to get the airpods as well as an alternative. Will prob wait for version 2 now.
 
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Nikhil72 said:
Looking forward to receiving them whenever they're ready. In the meantime, I'm loving the W1 chip on my PowerBeats 3 and am looking forward to trying the BeatsX when they ship. I'm not an audiophile and like the kicked up bass. PowerBeats 3 have been used pretty heavily since I got them and charged them to 100% Friday and I'm still living at 58% and the range covers my entire apartment, which is impressive. For those who are skeptical, the W1 chip is not a gimmick, and it is remarkable compared to standard bluetooth (including my QC30, soundsport wireless, and my recent experience with both Bang & Olufsen and Master & Dynamic wireless sets). It demonstrates the thing I still love about Apple; 1) Wireless is liberating (especially in a big city while walking around), 2) standard BT was "okay" but not stellar, 3) connection limitations of up to 2 devices was restrictive for a 3-4 device person, 4) battery life wasn't impressive on small sets, 5) and range is variable. Their W1 chip addressed all of these by building on a pre-existing standard and doing it well. Don't knock it until you try it, and hopefully we'll see the chip in more sets over time.
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I am waiting to by Powerbeats 3 on B&H site, still not available :(
 
macduke said:
I was excited for them at first, but that excitement has waned considerably by now. It's not good to miss the holiday shopping quarter. So to keep everything straight: They removed the headphone jack on the iPhone 7, promised this wondrous wireless future—which is now delayed, and released a new MacBook Pro with a headphone jack that doesn't even plug into their new Lightning headphones and doesn't have a port which you can plug an iPhone into. WAT. Apple is getting more and more confusing every day. Please let this not be the early 90s all over again. I say this because I care and I'm concerned.
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You could understand if there were different teams working on the product designs but isn't the brilliant Jony head designer on all Apple hardware.
Come on Apple.
 
darthbane2k said:
In all likelihood , Apple will not let BeatsX cannibalize potential sales of Airpods and will delay those from being released too.
At the moment BeatsX is only obtainable by 'celebrities' (even Andi Peters has a pair!) , so get contacting your agents!!

Seriously - this is a complete mess. Tim Cook proves yet again that he doesn't have what it takes to run a company such as Apple.
We need a 'product centric' man at the helm, not a 'bean counter'
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I agree, i think that's the real reason why they haven't been released yet.
 
Pretty much a fail, recurring theme here. The one mostly "new" thing they did this year and they can't ship it for an entire financial quarter after its announced? On top of removing the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 you would think Apple would have ensured their own wireless earpod solutions would have worked properly on day 1. For now, most people that bought an iPhone are probably already using some other bluetooth headset or the wired adapter, so why bother waiting until January for a product that is obviously broken.

On top of that, what the hell are the Beats guys doing if they can't help Apple roll out a wireless headphone product? Did Apple only acquired the brand or did they inherit any of the Beats engineers? Or did Beats just buy and slap a logo on some OEM product straight outta China and add 500% markup?

Maybe Apple should have been a little less courageous and a little more focused on delivering a new wireless experience for the iPhone 7 with matching brand earpods.
 
They probably lost one of the prototypes. They are so small after all. I wonder if they lost the Left one, Right one, or Both????
 
AdonisSMU said:
don't care. I want them. I just want them to be amazing. Apple needs to spend time perfecting these devices.
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Ideally that would be the case but things happen. You are overreacting. It's better to get it right than for your headphones to blow up while you use them.
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It's better to not announce them unless they are ready especially when they're a huge selling point to your flagship device. If they couldn't see this coming they should have stuck with tested technology like hmmm 3.5 mm jack. You want to experiment don't make it almost essential to go wireless. Bluetooth works on my iPhone 6
 
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Maybe the delay is because apple are working on creating a new app called "Find my airpods".

That would be an essential app for when they fall out! ;)
 
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darthbane2k said:
In all likelihood , Apple will not let BeatsX cannibalize potential sales of Airpods and will delay those from being released too.
At the moment BeatsX is only obtainable by 'celebrities' (even Andi Peters has a pair!) , so get contacting your agents!!

Seriously - this is a complete mess. Tim Cook proves yet again that he doesn't have what it takes to run a company such as Apple.
We need a 'product centric' man at the helm, not a 'bean counter'
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So you want them to do a Samsung and release electrical products that aren't ready just so they can meet deadlines... mmmm.. not smart that one.
 
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