It's official, Apple is basically resorting to nickle and diming their customers, except instead of nickles and dimes, it's $160 to achieve very basic functionality in order to achieve something that virtually nobody really honestly cares about. All that's been achieved is that Apple has now created/affirmed a new non-optional secondary market that they're now positioned to best sell into (Beats). There's not even the decency to see if people care about a thinner phone by offering both a thin model without a jack and a thicker phone with one (for some strategically important price differential).
But honestly, complaints and analysis don't matter, people will line up to buy this garbage and to make it worse it'll become a stupid trend that will bleed over into Android-land and now instead of the perfectly fine $10 headphones I picked up at Big Lots, I'll have to shell out 10x that so I can listen to a podcast on my way to work.
edit and they don't even have the respect for their customers to ship their stupid buds on time with the product that requires them...so that their customers can look like bluetooth douchebags from both sides.
>except instead of nickles and dimes, it's $160 to achieve very basic functionality
The size, performance, battery life and construction of the wireless earpods are anything but "basic". In fact, most run-of-the-mill competitors are at the same price or more for wireless earbuds.
>There's not even the decency to see if people care about a thinner phone by offering both a thin model without a jack and a thicker phone with one (for some strategically important price differential).
The "decency" of not having a focus and vision as a company, and throwing stuff out to see what sticks?
>All that's been achieved is that Apple has now created/affirmed a new non-optional secondary market
You know you can use all other brands of wireless (and wired with either the adapter or with lighting) headphones, including all your older headphones, right?
>But honestly, complaints and analysis don't matter, people will line up to buy this garbage
So, people buy it, but it's still "garbage" because you say so?
>and they don't even have the respect for their customers to ship their stupid buds on time with the product that requires them...
The "respect" to magically fix the production slowdowns? Maybe ask the Chinese to whip and beat their workers more or over-clock the assembly line robots?
Or the "respect" to delay the release of the phone for 2+ weeks, so that those interested in those specific wireless buds (a small percentage of the overall iphone buyers) get them simultaneously with the phone?
Even the starting premise is wrong. Nothing "requires" them. You can use your old, non wireless buds, third party wireless buds, new non wireless headphones, and even third party Lighting headphones. Apple's new wireless earpods are just one option upon hundreds.
>so that their customers can look like bluetooth douchebags from both sides.
Maybe you have some anger issues, but Apple doesn't seem to be the real source...
coltea, I say this fairly nicely, having seen your posts many times here on HN, your posts are so consistently composed of Apple apologia as to be irrelevant to any discussion about the company or their products. You're kind of the poor man's John Gruber of HN.
I don't mean this to be personal, but I've never seen you post (and I just searched back comments on HN) anything even remotely critical of Apple, and most of your Apple related posts relate to you popping up to defend the company or "clarify" something that could be construed as negative to the company. If I didn't know better, I'd say that you worked for the company -- but you've claimed you don't a couple of times.
>coltea, I say this fairly nicely, having seen your posts many times here on HN, your posts are so consistently composed of Apple apologia as to be irrelevant to any discussion about the company or their products.
Compared to posts that suppose that the iPhone is garbage and people are idiots to "line up to buy this garbage", or that those using bluetooth are "bluetooth douchebags"?Or that not having the earpods available on the same launch day but some weeks delayed shows lack of "decency"?
Yeah, my posts lack such subtleties.
>If I didn't know better, I'd say that you worked for the company -- but you've claimed you don't a couple of times.
Yeah, I don't. I'm a (mostly) web backend developer, with side gigs in video production. I just happen to like their products and agree with most business decisions they make. Which, given that they are the richer company on earth with billions of sales, doesn't seem very outlier-ish.
I don't like some of their stuff (e.g. their mice before the Magic Mouse were crap, I'd prefer they kept the magsafe adapter in the new MBP, not particularly sold on lower-height keys on the new MacBook, Apple Music is a mess, etc), but I do like most of the hardware and OS. Been using it since 2003, and have had worked with SunOS (pre Solaris), HPUX, Windows, RedHat, SuSE, Debian and other OSes and flavors (still use Windows and Ubuntu personally, and Centos professionally).
I also don't like the trivial and complaint-for-complaint's sake arguments most people on the internet use. And judging from sales volumes, most people don't particularly care for them either.
But all of these are beside the point. Even if I were Cook himself or Gruber (which has a HN account actually and has commented 1-2 times IIRC), what matters is the arguments I put forward.
That's the price for their wireless headphones. The wired ones are still included. Other wired ones can be used with the adapter, also included. New adapters can be purchased for $9.
Go ahead, get this phone. Then think about what I've said here every time you need to buy something you didn't need to buy to use the previous phone. Multiply that by the install base at the time you had to purchase a specialty headphone or extra dongle or a replacement adapter.
The only innovation Apple is introducing here is the creation of a completely unecessary but new captive market that they then are best positioned to sell into.
But honestly, complaints and analysis don't matter, people will line up to buy this garbage and to make it worse it'll become a stupid trend that will bleed over into Android-land and now instead of the perfectly fine $10 headphones I picked up at Big Lots, I'll have to shell out 10x that so I can listen to a podcast on my way to work.
edit and they don't even have the respect for their customers to ship their stupid buds on time with the product that requires them...so that their customers can look like bluetooth douchebags from both sides.