Feature Friday: Bluetooth Headphones

Comments (Archived):

1. i think Apple has done this to encourage Apple Watch sales.

   1. how so?

      1. i’m not sure, but it’s my hunch and it’s from where i’m starting to try to answer the why of Apple’s jack decision.it’s inevitable that the Watch will eventually come with a sim slot and LTE. at the moment Apple doesn’t want to cannibalise its iphone sales and so not now, but the Watch is too small a form factor for any kind of physical port connection so wireless must happen. in time the Watch will become the phone and the iphone will change to become an auxiliary screen (bending, folding, rolling…) for more eyeball real estate. the ‘flip’ is just getting started and Apple is making these necessary hardware adjustment tweaks well ahead of time.this is not a thesis. this is just a hunch.typed from my Toshiba chromebook. i’m really liking the Chrome OS experience. not everything, but it’s good.

         1. I don’t know. The watch still has a problem of needing to be worn and not everybody is keen on wearing a watch. I’m not.

            1. i don’t wear a watch. however, if it became a phone with a fully featured OS i very well might.the new ceramic Watch looks delightful.

            2. The only time I wear bluetooth headphones is when I pair them with my sony smartwatch.

         2. i tend to be on the same page. when the watch gains connectivity, we’ll need a way to handle sound. wireless is the way

         3. Uhg.. why does everything have to keep getting smaller. My fingers aren’t getting any smaller. Everything already fits in my pocket.

            1. why does it have to be in your pocket?

            2. Oh.. so now you want me to buy iPants… that don’t have any pockets? How courageous.

            3. No pants would be courageous.

         4. battery efficiency in that small a form factor really pushes out the feasibility of cellular/WAN on watches. you can certainly argue that the network use cases are different, but that’s not enough to offset the cost, power consumption and heat generation of a cellular radio

      2. It becomes clearer when we look at the new GPS capabilities of Apple Watch (they demoed it as part of a hiking app) as well as the Nike versions of the Watch and the Pokemon app.Imagine a scenario where we’re on a run or cycling or a hike or sailing wearing Apple Watch and we get SIRI voice notifications and directional guidance directly into our ear, without being tangled up in wires as we’re moving or carrying an iPhone in our hands (not very convenient when we’re on a bike, for example) .Imagine also that, in the near future, with the Apple Watch GPS and Airpod, it could tell us we’ve hit an incense spot for Pokemon, instructs us to do 10 star jumps on the spot and, voilà, we’ve captured the Pokemon (as well as added to QS fitness challenges as part of Nike’s Social Fitness Club partnership).Furthermore, imagine voice control of HomeKit devices via the speaker functionality of Airpod.A few years out, imagine wireless Airpods as we drive an Apple car.Apple will have thought through these integrations because that’s their brilliance.In the words of Jony Ive: “Unity and efficiency in the design.”

      3. Apple will get it to their version of this:

   2. I’ve often thought that the long term play was to move the “smarts” away from the handset and on to a wearable/pocketable – that the handset will be just another display/I/O device. When your wearable is 10x as powerful as your current iPhone – everything becomes a connected device. Your laptop is just a keyboard and display that is powered by your personal device. Your TV is just a bigger display. This is a move in that direction…

      1. Hadn’t thought about it like this, but you make a compelling case for it here.

         1. Nothing starts the day better than early morning affirmation and a good cup of coffee!

      2. waiting for the implant

      3. Post smartphone era

2. I haven’t used wired headphones with my phones in years except when I am on a plane. Instead I’ve been using a successor to the LG model you recommended here a couple of years ago. So I’ll be in line for the airbuds.

3. What is the reasoning on why you are back to Wired currently? What was wrong with the Bluetooth necklace style device you used?

4. Personal experience so far with bluetooth headsets: crummy connections, battery dying when most needed, average sound quality.That being said Airpods are not about bluetooth headphones, they are the first step in ushering in the post phone voice-UI/AI driven/ambient computing revolution.Amazon Echo-esque functionality with you everywhere, always.Brave move by Apple considering hardware (over software) has always been their crowning glory. But hey – the best companies must disrupt themselves before others do.(Apple Watch slowly becoming independent of iPhone. Watch and Airpods (which will become increasingly smaller/transdermal) new computing paradigm

   1. Great call. I think HRC might have had version 3 in during the forum the other night.

5. I got a pair of wireless Beats earbuds a while back as a gift. I appreciate not getting tangled in the cord, but the Bluetooth is occasionally spotty and I sometimes forget to charge them, so I often fall back to wired. Apple has apparently made some software improvements around Bluetooth, which is probably enough for me to give them a shot. Wish Apple would make some sort of wireless charging pad so I don’t need to plug so many gadgets in all the time.

   1. In the future they’ll self charge off the heat output from your ear canal. “Ear discharge charge” … Has a ring to it.

      1. A small colony of bacteria in each lug will consume your earwax – producing enough power that you’ll never need a charger. I wouldn’t be surprised if the odd pilgrim might produce enough power that they could sell the excess to the grid.

         1. Hmm…definitely something to chew on

      2. Those long tubes are for the charging turbines.I can imagine Ive describing how they work…

         1. They sell the sizzle. And god they shovel the shit so well it’s an art. I watched most of the Apple event and was amazed at how they build up the value in a buyers mind by the visuals and marketing more than the actual features.

6. Just seems like a strategy to sell more stuff

   1. come now Mr. Hirshfield. enough of this curmudgeonly cynicism. Apple is here to enhance your life experience.

   2. Wait, you don’t think this was about……”courage” ?

      1. It takes courage to sell earbuds for $160.

   3. I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Airpods! Jony Ive said: “Unity and efficiency in the design” and it’s GENIUS!(1.) It’s tied in with advances in Voice Recognition AI.(2.) Much more natural, unobtrusive UX than Glasses.(3.) I want them to fit a swivel nano-camera to Airpod!!!As soon as it’s released, I’m buying a pair and hope they release Airpod developers kit!!! I didn’t bother getting Apple Watch but will code for Airpod. This is the device I’ve been waiting for from Apple.@fredwilson:disqus — Wasn’t there a post last year where AVC community decided the wearable should be on the ear?

      1. I can’t tell if you are joking or not.

         1. Jess Bachman:Twain Twain is a Fangirl. I can understand loving the W1 technology but the design flaw only a fangirl or boy could attempt defending. It is that bad. She must have stock in Apple. Just simply hideous design.

            1. Sir Jony Ive is a BRILLIANT designer.

            2. Indeed, but he has very funny ears. Or mine are. Apple buds don’t fit well in my ears. The only in-ear phones that I am comfortable with are plantronics’ that come with soft adapters in various sizes.First time I miss the Apple show, I used to take the afternoon just for that. Feel lost. How they solved the microphone with the wireless buds?

            3. Techradar: “The stems point toward your cheek and contain microphones to pick up on what you’re saying. You can chat away on phone calls, or issue Siri commands by double tapping either AirPod.”I can see them shortening the stem and/or coiling the microphone circuitry in future iterations.

            4. There is something I don’t like about the design, and it is that there seems to be a message in the buds looking as the older ones but with no cables, “look ma’ no cables” instead of an honest stem that looks like a microphone.And, I want them in black.

            5. I want them in every color like iPod shuffle!!!

            6. Ok, cross breed these and in every color.. 🙂

            7. Samsung Gear Icon earbuds have no microphone stem but, apparently, do have 2 of them per ear.The Android fans will love the look+feel of the pairing of the Gear watch and Galaxy phone.I prefer Apple’s art+engineering.

            8. I prefer the look of samsung.Apple’s look is strange. Cyborg in a bad way, makes you look not natural/not present to listen

            9. Voilà, Lawrence! https://uploads.disquscdn.c…http://thenextweb.com/creat…

            10. The stems point toward your cheek and contain microphones to pick up on what you’re saying. You can chat away on phone calls, or issue Siri commands by double tapping either AirPod — Techradar.

            11. I can see the stem getting shorter and/or Apple developing a “coiled microphone” within Airpod.At least… that’s how I’d do it, :*).

            12. Hah a kindred spirit. The buds don’t fit well in mine either, then i realized the problem was not with me but with assumptions apple made about the “typical” ear.

         2. LOL, not joking.I’m a fan. At the moment, the stem is what it is because it’s packing what seems to be what I’d call a “cyclone speaker”.Over the next 2 iterations, this will become shorter.

            1. I recall seeing this X-Files episode where the FBI puts a drop of metal into Mulder’s ear to act as some sort of receiver. Let me know when it gets that small.

            2. Not heard about Google’s neurotransmitters?Ray Kurzweil: “Ultimately these devices will be the size of blood cells, we’ll be able to send them inside our brain through the capillaries, and basically connect up brain to the cloud,” Kurzweil says. “But that’s a mid-2030’s scenario.”In Kurzweil’s vision, these advances don’t simply bring computers closer to our biological systems. Machines become more like us. “Your personality, your skills are contained in information in your neocortex, and it is information,” Kurzweil says. “These technologies will be a million times more powerful in 20 years and we will be able to manipulate the information inside your brain* https://www.marketplace.org…

   4. If only they came with some kind of chain — or maybe a wire — so that I wouldn’t lose them…

      1. Hahaha

         1. Everyone’s a comedian.

      2. They’ll sell that for extra. But it will have a proprietary connector.

      3. three little kittens have lost their mittens … lol cats of days of yoreseriously, i imagined an accessory like an eyeglass chain … in colors …

         1. Maybe someone will Kickstarter a chain…

            1. OOOOOOH i just looked on etsy for glasses; leather lanyards, crystals, rhinestones … anything anyone could want

7. Cmon man!

   1. that is so goofy. not a chance in hell. contacts maybe.

   2. The selfie stick of the headphones world… hehe.

      1. aminTorres:How does Emilylehlers4 get to tag you with reply of shamework marketing? Why coding doesn’t focus on cleaning this up.

         1. er… not sure what you mean.This is clearly a spam. The spammer responded to my originan comment the same way you just did. I should mention I don’t work at Disqus or moderate the comments here on AVC so there is really nothing I can do about this. Sorry.

            1. aminTorres:nuestro post parece haberse perdido en la traducción. La respuesta fue sarcasmo basado en correo no deseado permitido. Nos damos cuenta de que no eres un moderador y no trabajo en Disqus.

            2. Tacos, tortillas, arroz con coco.

            3. Estamos en varios idiomas , pero en realidad se utiliza google traductor . Tenemos nuestras restricciones dietéticas a enumerar una Pescatarian ( sin carne , sino pescado) . Disfrutamos de Oriente Medio, China, Italiana , Vegetariana tarifa )Nos abrazamos la mayoría de las cocinas que no retransmiten al reúnen como la dieta cubana hace.(Use Google translator if you need to know)

            4. I speak, read and write perfect Spanish.Let’s keep it to English here shall we? so that others can follow the conversation. Hopefully about things related to the posts.Best,Amin.

            5. thank you. My spanish doesn’t exist

   3. This look is *exactly* what I was worried about. No way. This look is almost as bad as the Google Glass when it came out. Yikes.

      1. Seriously, Airpods are beautiful UX when compared with Google Glass.

   4. This picture is funny, but if you imagine a cord coming out of each unit, it doesn’t really look that different from their current wired earbuds.

   5. I wonder if there is a Shrek model available.

   6. andyswan:It appears Twain Twain loves them. A fangirl. Just completely silly. Five years from now it will look like the eight track to the fanboys. What in the world were they thinking? That is called innovation. Tim Cook is totally on silly puddy. Lets give them the silliest looking device and watch them wear it.

   7. ‘V1’ is always a retarded product. On purpose. It gets better as time goes on. We saw this with the first iphone. In this way they are able to work out the kinks as well. It will get smaller and less embarrassing and/or people won’t find it embarrassing. (IE tattoes and body piercing).

      1. In hindsight, paricualrly to the novice, this is the pattern of product development. But you fail to understand the product development process. Its a process where emotions and confirmation bias drive the product to completion and then only with time does the designer see the flaws.

         1. Time, available technology and a host of other things drive “product development”. Strategically also there is not shooting your load in one fell swoop, importantly even if you can ‘on purpose’. This is why it’s so fucking difficult to make a comment here or learn from reading even a HBR business school article. It’s an art whereby many things are taken into account. I was only highlighting one of the reasons. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other things going on.Strategy is always important and like the law nothing is cut and dry. In business weird and non standard and non textbook things are done every single day that end up putting money in someone’s pocket. I know a guy who once let himself get sued to simply prevent his competitor from getting ahead in something they were doing. The lawsuit in other words had a greater impact on the competitor than on this particular person (first hand knowledge here) Separately not every business is a major corporation driven by committees and a specific MBA process.Politics. I heard the taking heads discuss the “Aleppo” screwup that Gary Johnson made the other day. Not one of them mentioned the fact that his poll numbers have a good chances of rising simply because of better name recognition. The first thing that I thought when hearing this. And while he won’t win the race, if he gets more than (I think it is) 5% of the vote his party will then get federal funds in the next election (or something like that). Hence while I don’t think it’s likely that he fucked up on purpose I also don’t think it was a big of a mistake as they are making it out to be if they simply considered the net effect of the mistake that he made and the potential and obvious upside. And I don’t think it’s a stretch that knowing he would lose anyway he would do a hail mary to try and say anything to get above a certain number. Why? Because it’s what I would do in his shoes that’s why. Hard to believe I am so “unique” and stupid in that way.What’s particularly interesting is the fact that this is exactly the reason that Trump is where he is. Shit that he said that everyone else laughed at.

      2. what about ‘simplified’ to create more iteration stops along the roadmap highway?

      3. First iPhone was slicking looking…BUT…had the same headphone problem. If you recall you needed an adapter to use regular headphones on it too due to the recessed 2.5mm headphone jack they included rather than the industry standard 3.5mm.

   8. Is this the same guy?

      1. yes.

      2. You are scary. (In a good way.)

         1. Lol, :*).One day, just as already happens with flowers and birds, we’ll show the machines a picture of someone and it’ll be able to tell us who it is.* http://qz.com/423649/this-n…Several of my friends believe I’m a cyborg or a “walking Wikipedia”. I’m not, though, lol.Just have a sense of fun, really good at finding things on Internet and connecting the dots.

            1. If you were a cyborg, would you know you were one? 🙂

            2. If I was a cyborg, my dreams would involve spaghetti with dogs’ heads (see Google Deep dream image).I’m human so my dreams of spaghetti are photo-real, normal and not psychedelic.

      3. #facemodel

   9. I don’t have a problem with the look. The airpods look like the current wired headphones without the wires. For $160, I’ll stick the headphones they give me.What Apple needs to do is sell the airpods in packs of 10 because I might lose these like I lose socks.

   10. and we know Apple already has a long roadmap drawn up for this product. V2 is smaller, V3 has an integrated microphone et.c….people become hostage to Apple and then a form of Stockholm syndrome takes over and they end up defending their captor’s behaviour.

8. Cables is something Apple doesn’t do well. I replaced so many Apple cables over the years.

   1. I guess your champagne bottle saber has something to do with that. 🙂

      1. Ha!

   2. Same here, agree!Although I just ordered 10 wired headphones to stock up.In 3 years from now I am going to look so chic and retro, it will be ridiculous ;)On a more serious note.William, are you in NYC any time soon?I would love to explore the idea of having you come to R/GA to talk about the blockchain.

      1. Next week.What is rga?

         1. http://www.rga.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…

   3. my favorite comment of yours. just ordered a bunch on amazon to be covered on an upcoming trip

   4. I see them broken in many places but I’ve replaced 0 so far. The trick is to stop pulling your wires out from the wire and instead use the connector.

      1. They break anyways without pulling on the wires. Even the new lightning cable stopped charging and it looked intact from the outside.

9. Bu cutting the cord, Apple is preparing the way to moving from a phone centric world to one that can be wrist centric. With the shrinking of components I would not be surprised to see most of the phone functionality shifted to the wrist by 2020. Wireless headphones, and the behavioral shifts that come from them, are part of preparing us for that shift.

   1. This is almost an awesome answer, though not sure why you need to remove the normal headphone jack to accomplish this transition.

      1. I’d assume because the watch ( all smart watches? ) doesn’t and won’t have a headphone jack as well.

         1. Huh? Still could have Airbuds, BLE on the watch, and a headphone jack on phone….

10. Can’t resist posting the UK Guardian newpaper’s response: https://www.theguardian.com…

11. I 100% love my Bose noise canceling earbuds – drown out the sound of Cape Air’s props as well as my lawn tractor when I’m listening to books on tape while looking like I’m working. Super portable and durable I’ve found. Good phone capabilities. I have the bigger Bose bluetooth ear phones too which were fun at first, but they are stuffed in my desk drawer for at least a year now… I always get back to my buds. Glad they are including an adaptor. If the new ones sound as great as the Bose, then I’m on cloud 9.

12. I have an Android now and have been thinking about going witeless for about a month. I like the Samsung Gear X http://www.samsung.com/us/a…And these Bullet 2.0 buds found on Huckberry https://huckberry.com/store…

13. There are anti-competitive and DRM implications with this move from Apple. https://www.eff.org/deeplin…”Manufacturers must apply and pay a licensing fee to create a Lightning-compatible device.” They hold the keys to the lighting port and can create as much friction as necessary to keep Beats atop the market.”Cory Doctorow predicted that big content companies would try to take advantage of that control: “Right now, an insistence on DRM would simply invite the people who wanted to bypass it for legal reasons to use that 3.5mm headphone jack to get at it. Once that jack is gone, there’s no legal way to get around the DRM.””The main point being… “What you can do with your hardware should be determined by the limits of the technology itself, not its manufacturers’ policy decisions.”

    1. Another reason to go back to Android

14. I have mixed thoughts about the airpods. On one end, I think Apple’s move will force the industry to begin really thinking about how to tackle the pain of using wired powered devices, so that could be nice and I would expect serious innovation in the years to come. On the other end…I suspect that Apple did this because iPhone has become a commodity product for them and they have been delivering incremental innovation in the last few years and maybe the airpods was the only thing they could think off to try and disrupt.

15. Headphones can be expensive and having one that works only with Iphone makes no sense. So for me Apple will alienate all users who do not buy the new airpods, which should have come included with Iphone 7. It is very different to move from 30-pin to lightning vs. distancing customers from their beloved headesets from Bang & Olufsen.Bad bad decision.

16. Apple didn’t explain any real benefit or impart coolness to the move. There must be some beyond what was hypothesized in media. “Courage” was justifiably lambasted all over. I think I actually miss the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field.

17. Clearly wireless is the way to go although I always get disappointed with bluetooth reconnect after the phone and Bluettoth headset has been separated . My concern with the earpods is that if I have them in the case to charge it will take too much time to get them up if someone is calling or I want to use Siri. Better with something that sits around you neck and you can just pick up whenever you need. The best form factor is still to be invented I think.

18. Somebody is gonna come of left field with the next step for phones. This is treading water.

19. Earin Earbuds are surprisingly good bluetooth buds. I got some via kickstarter and they work really well via aptX. Easy to carry. Earins are headphones only, so no microphones.If you hate wires then these types of device are great. But you have to be more careful in case they fall out (especially at 159 a pair). They can easliy drop into the gap between a tube train and the platform. But you do learn to be more careful. The earins use thick earbuds so they sit well in your ear. Not sure what the apple ones do.I suspect people who want them will adjust to taking better care when using them, providing the audio quality really is that much better.I guess people who find in-ear headphones uncomfortable can use bluetooth rather than the magical apple earbud transport?

20. Apple know this graph showing Bluetooth vs Wired sales. More sales per customer = superhigh profit.Myself I invested in two BlueTooth headset at $800 each, three years ago. Crystal clear sound and remove noise in background. I can never go back to wired headset. Move people over to Bluetooth is very profitable business.

21. Love Bluetooth headphones personally. I disagree with Fred wth regards to the AirPods product.I can’t imagine the AirPods staying in people’s ears. I’ve always had trouble with Apple’s default ear bud head phones, especially when running.

22. Another thing to go soon is the SIM card, replaced by eSim.SIM guts will just be built into the phone’s logic, and you’ll just get codes from the mobile providers.Learned about this at the Samsung Gear 2 watch launch last week, that device will have this option.http://www.mckinsey.com/ind…

23. I have been using LG ones since you shared ! They are great 🙂

24. Was at a manufacturer in Taiwan in September 2015 when they showed us headphones wired with a lightning cable and subtly stated no headphone jack on the next iPhone. Have been messing around with all sorts of wireless headphones since.I currently use the Bose wireless (not truly wireless as they are connected to each other) and enjoy them for running. Apple will not have the best “pods” available, but people will default them to be. While the headphone jack is gone there are wired headphones available with a lightning cable. My biggest pain point of the the change is the lack of being able to plug into an airplane as I travel frequently. Many bluetooth headphones today offer a wired option as well. I wish they would have demonstrated the ability to still have wired with lightning cable as truly wireless is going to take more time for mass adoption.

25. Before the announcements most off the criticism of removing the headphone jack was how hard it is to pair bluetooth headphones. None of those people predicted Apple would make it super easy to pair, like this: https://twitter.com/Nivo0o0…Now the criticism is how easy it is to loose them, except it’s closer to a joke turning into a meme than a real concern for most people I think…Can you imagine the movie Her with wired headphones? Wireless is inevitable, and if you’ve ever used wireless headphones it’s silly to make a big deal out of (and want to) be wired in. And that’s before an Apple type of experience…Will be getting the AirPods the day they come out.

    1. Don’t little sticks coming out of the ear look weird? Just sayin.

26. This may push me the final straw that pushes me out. I like the cheap headphones to work out. I lose them all the time and would never want to have to charge batteries. This is kind of a deal breaker for me. I’d be fine with this if I only ever used bluetooth for phone calls. But for working out, this really stinks.

27. Can you buy a single AirPod so you can replace the one you lose?$160? Are you kidding?One battery on Bluetooth headphones is bad enough. Two batteries, one on each earbud? You’re done when the first one runs out of juice.5 hours is not enough to fly from LA to NY, let alone listen to stuff going to and from the airport.We shall see.

    1. $160 see my comment about retarded initial launches. Of course it can and will get cheaper. The price (pure Apple profit) is an easy one to fix (when and if they want).

    2. ErikSchwartz:the Earpod selfie stick hanging out the ear. Simply poor design.The Schatzii earpiece puts the Airpod to shame. ($150.00) That is hidden in your ear.http://www.ahalife.com/product… desc&mt=pg&pt=sf_1&us=0&src=s&ip=11Disclosure: No position on devices but a user of them.

    3. It’s been confirmed that they will sell single AirPods so you can replace a lost one, although the price of a single unit has not been released.Also, 15 minutes in the charging case gets you another 3 hours apparently, so your flight scenario should not be too bad.

    4. Obvious solution: 100% embedded earbuds! That is, surgically embedded. Maybe remove part of the mastoid bone behind the ear and embed there. Somehow get the power from the blood stream, say, from glucose. Gee, given Apple, that looks like a great candidate for Apple-style innovation and UX, and I’m surprised they haven’t done that by now! Yes, yes, yes, I know: The embedding should be done with a zipper so that can install newer models!

28. Personally, this is really upsetting to me and will probably prevent me from upgrading my phone. I may even switch to android. 1)I can’t keep track of wireless earbuds – I will inevitably lose one of them. Happens with earrings all the time. 2)I actually like that my earbuds are attached to my phone. It helps me keep track of it and I am able to make sure it stays on my person. 3)When I’m working out I have a secondary pair that are designed to stay in your ears better – and I’ll be very upset that I can’t use those. 4) I work in sales and talk on my phone a lot – not that Bluetooth tech isn’t good but me having my earbuds in at work is a signal to other people that I’m not available right now. I really like that aspect.

29. Got a drawer full of them. Probably $1000 worth. I could charge them, try and pair them and use them with my phone. Or just plug in my wired headphones….

    1. Agreed. Charging is just a pain. When I had a pair, I used the wire while the BT was charging … but then I would just forget about the BT pair and continue wearing the wired.

30. Happy Friday!I’m excited about the new headphones. I work remote and I’m constantly conferencing.It’s only an edge case, but I am very much looking forward to eliminating those moments when I get up to leave my desk and not jerk the buds out of my ear or catch the wire on a doorknob while I incessantly pace while on conference calls :)I’ve tried every bluetooth model and they suck. Battery life is awful and the hardware controls are always poorly designed.I’m looking forward to the new tech.The most interesting thing to me is even though a pair is included with the phone and you can even buy a 9 dollar jack which will allow you to plug the wired headphones in, everyone’s freaking.It never ceases to amaze me at how people thrash at even voluntary change…

    1. Guilty. I love change but it’s these small ones that get me. I’m not even an iPhone user but it was so easy to jump on the bandwagon in criticizing this new move by Apple. I have Apple issues anyway, even though as the family technology purchaser we currently have 10 iOS devices for a family of 6 (I’m the only hold out). But then I read a more detailed article and learned about the little jack hack and felt silly.AdAge has it right– a messaging problem on Apple’s part. Is it me or was part of Jobs’ brilliance that new products resulted in an aha moment without a lot of explanation needed.http://adage.com/article/di…

       1. For me, what’s missing in their vision right now is a basic sense of wonder. We need products that make life easier. Where’s the home media system that breaks down walled gardens? Where are the commercial packages for mayors to run city basics? Where is the crowd sourced app that helps manage voter registration in local areas?There are so many places for innovation right now that it’s breathtaking. They need to find their way to wonder again.

          1. Yesssss!

31. I use bluetooth headphones when I exercise, paired to my android watch and that’s it, they are pain in the ass to have to remember to charge

32. Unlike most, I am actually very excited about this. I think the convenience of having two wireless earbuds will go beyond just listening to music and make me more likely to use them to interact with my phone in other ways. I think the additional perks of pairing with an iPhone will also alleviate some of the friction that have made people hesitate with other bluetooth accessories in the past.

33. I’m not at all excited about having another thing to charge. I’ve got an iPhone 6s last year and don’t plan to upgrade again this year.If you look at how they talked about the improvement in battery life, which sounded rather weak, I really do think that the space taken up by the extra connector was a major design consideration. They could not credibly bring out a new phone with little or no battery improvement and, space being what it is, I think they felt that they had to bite the bullet for this as well as for the migration to wireless.

34. This could be a path to a scenario where the watch has 5G, and we can do without the screen, or make it optional. In this scenario, we’d just be talking to an assistant. The challenge is that no 2 ears are identical (any 2 same animal parts either).

35. Agreed that AirBuds just seem way too easy to lose. I would love to have a wire that connected them behind the neck (product idea!). Also, can anyone comment on how the BlueTooth will work with both AirBuds and iWatch (or any device that is using the BT) simultaneously?

    1. Yeah, it seems like a lanyard type deal for these would really be nice for the real-life use case of taking them out, putting them back in, several times a day.Also, why can’t there be a detachable cord that plugs into the phone and uses it to charge from the phone when the Airbud batts are low?

    2. So Glad I am an android guy . . I break or lose all my buds in less than 3 months, unless I just quit using them – which has been the case for several months now. Probably because of my knee injury – which has kept me from running. I had the wireless neck setup for a while . .which worked, till one of the wires broke – $100 down the drain . .but I did not lose/forget them as much. I am happy to keep buying cheap ones, losing them and breaking them . . till something magical comes along!

36. When I picture myself inside an Apple car, I don’t see headphone cords. I dont think this product is about a new phone.

37. CONTRIBUTORS:it appears many are in a vacuum. The majority of second adopters have been using wireless Bluetooth headsets for over a year. This technology has been perfected to a degree the price point allows us to ditch any plugs for casual use. The main reason we still use plugin headsets is because of computers.It is amazing the technology this blog is exposed and coding abilities but are still in the stone age on basic technology adoption.The Schatzii earpiece puts the Airpod to shame. ($150.00) That is hidden in your ear.http://www.ahalife.com/prod… desc&mt=pg&pt=sf_1&us=0&src=s&ip=11————And who hasn’t seen everyone working out appearing to talk to themselves. Like really blog.————-Disclosure: No position on devices but a user of them.

    1. $300 for the UGLY bullet Earbuds?!!!Did you watch Jony Ive’s keynote closely? Did you see the W1 wireless chip he talked about?18 months ago, I did a hack with an adapted iPhone that I really wanted to be the size of postage stamp with gesture, audio and voice recognition.And now… Apple has gifted me the Airpod.

       1. Twain Twain:reading is fundamental. The Earbuds that can’t be seen and doesn’t looklike a selfie stick running down a persons ear is only $150.00.Review that entire page.http://www.ahalife.com/prod… desc&mt=pg&pt=sf_1&us=0&src=s&ip=11

          1. Reading is fundamental.The Earbud is $150 FOR ONE! And it can clearly be seen and it’s UGLY.

             1. Twain Twain:beauty is in the eye of the beholder. They say Apple Fangirls and Fanboys are far-sighted.

             2. LOL, right…near-sighted…That’s why the iPhone has been the BEST SELLING & BELOVED TECH PRODUCT for close to 10 years.

             3. Twain Twain:Listen to this song! https://www.youtube.com/wat…

             4. Upvoted for the legendary icons Jethro Tull band and Ian Anderson. Love their music.

             5. Beastie! Loved Tull before, but my most listened to album/track of theirs over past 3+ decades.

             6. Twain Twain:we are a supporter of your efforts in anything with technology. (All women to be precise).But you know you are not an expert in fashion. That is not your space. We all need to know our limitations. The Airpod is ugly to all except Fangirls and Fanboys. Spend away. Applewill quickly adopt another iteration of the Airpod and you will buy away. Hope the iWatchyou purchased and rooted for are still working out for you. Another flop in the making.Living off Steve Jobs legacy will only go so far. Innovation will be required at some point.

             7. Jony Ive is the best technology designer of his generation, actually.

             8. Alas, you’re factually wrong. A Fangirl would buy every single version of every single product line a company produces.As AVC community knows, I did NOT root for or buy the Apple Watch. Moreover, I don’t upgrade to every iteration of Apple products.And, as it happens, I know a lot about design and am very aesthetic in my things.

       2. Twain Twain:the technology from the W1 chip is very innovative. But the design that Apple chose to insert it in is hideous. Get over the chip and address what everyone else is addressing the poor design. It is ugly! Hanging out the ear.

          1. An easy one to fix long term.

             1. LE:We agree just fanning the flames for the Fangirls and Boys who will defend anything Apple no matter the flaw. Just ridiculous. Apple technology or reproduction of technology because of the scale is unprecedented and the best. Overpriced, reproducing competitors technology (Size of devices, waterproofing, etc) is a integral component of what Apple does well.

38. So, while it may be true that you can get better sound out of the lightning connectors ( those Audeze do sound sweet) for most this will just cost them money. Shortly with Bluetooth 5.0 you will be able to get BT HD or an uncompressed audio signal like a CD or Hi-Res file. That is nice, but you are paying a premium for the pleasure while a wire is really a very good solution. People do not like wires, but they work great have wonderful bandwidth, high reliability and good results. Who can say why there is something wrong here other than fashion and of course best to rid of wire for exercise. This is a mixed result as some will find better sound with a lightning cable and a good DAC in line easily besting the analog output stage of the phone. Most all maker give small budget and short shrift to the analog output circuit but then most BT sounds terrible too. In the end, accessory makers will make up for the lack of a charge port when listening and address the cost. However, this generally looks useless other than designers liking to get rid of the HP port. It will not get rid of wire, it will cost money. Some will like it, many will not. Seems like usual.

39. I’ll be really glad when 98% of the hardware that goes into making earbuds is soft and flexible. I have small ear canals and generally sensitive ears. I can’t wear *any* earbud for longer than about an hour. I prefer headphones.I also like to go to sleep with something akin to white noise playing in my ears. But I have to use something called “Sleep Phones” because earbuds are uncomfortable if I lay on my side.It’s clear wireless is the future. Resistance is futile. I’m on the iPhone subscription plan, so I’ll be upgrading when this comes out. In a way, it forces me to stay current.

    1. Same. I wear headphones all day, MDR 7506. Earbuds just wont fit in my ears, they just fall out. Like my body is rejecting them.I like white noise too, but use a fan. How come you dont use a speaker or something?

       1. My “white noise” is actually ASMR stuff, so it would be super annoying to Mr. Kirsten as he tried to sleep next to me :-PHe uses actual white noise by turning on R2D2 (our air purifier).

          1. ASMR white noise… some kind of audio oxymoron….?

    2. I don’t have them but I’m told these are a good option: http://www.complyfoam.com

       1. Nice! Thank you 🙂

    3. Try ear lubricant. I use it for my custom ear plugs. Had tremendous pain until I got that (all of the situations you describe). I will try to dig up the name of the company that I buy it from I tried a bunch of different products until I found this one.

       1. Interesting! Sounds gross, but interesting 😉 Thank you for the reco!

    4. Kirsten Lambertsen:The earbuds are already being sold you are hoping for.The Schatzii earpiece puts the Airpod to shame. ($150.00) That is hidden in your ear.http://www.ahalife.com/product… desc&mt=pg&pt=sf_1&us=0&src=s&ip=11Disclosure: No position on devices but a user of them.

       1. that’s $150 for EACH isn’t it?

       2. Oh they looked pretty solid but if they are very small, maybe they’ll work.

    5. i’m similar.Also, what are these sleep – phones. I would use them

       1. It’s like a soft headband that you might wear to keep your ears warm without messing up your hair. Little speakers have been sewn into it about where it sits on your ears. And a long soft cord with an RCA plug at the end extends out from the area at the nape of the neck. ~$35 on Amazon.

40. Don’t think I’d wear Apple’s but Here One’s headphones are pretty smooth. https://hereplus.me/

41. I started using these ~2 years ago for bikes rides so I didn’t have wires everywhere… changed everything … they’re awesome and and very nicely priced at $27.99 at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/LG-W…

    1. yes, similar story for me – a few years ago, I started using the Motorola product for running and biking https://www.amazon.com/s/re…and though they break after about a year (perhaps due to the intensity of my workouts…no..that can’t be it…), Motorola is good about replacing them and/or I can almost always find a great sale price, particularly on the model one generation behind

42. I’m more in the headphones vs earbuds camp for the same ear-shape reasons @MsPseudolus:disqus mentions although I have a few pairs of random JBL earbuds that seem to be the only ones that fit, don’t fall out and don’t hurt. My challenge w/ Bluetooth has been the need to charge — I’m notoriously bad at charging my noise-cancelling pair (luckily the Bose I have are quick to charge so an ‘oh crap, I forgot’ 15 min charge goes a long way). Over-the-air charging can’t come soon enough (and not just for headphones) and I suspect that’s when I’ll fully cut over to wireless. For now wired buds & studio headphones seem to do the trick.That said, I’m a fan of stuff like Here (https://hereplus.me/) and similar dynamic headphones. I’d be a much more enthusiastic early adopter if I knew they’d fit my ears.

43. Couple of thoughts:1. They seem like nice Bluetooth headphones2. I loose headphones all the time. $160 is an easy nope2. There’s nothing about building a new product that means you need to remove compatibility with an old product. Seems like a desperate and risky move. Why not release airbuds, see that they are a clear winner in the marketplace, then remove the headphone jack?

44. My pref is wired over-the-ear and nothing tops these: https://goo.gl/vd3Y6OFor wireless I really like these. Sound good, look good, pair easily, under $30 and best of all stay in place:https://goo.gl/9Vmb3G

    1. I love the description on Amazon for the wireless headphones: “designed to stay in your ears”….although you might think that goes without saying, it is my main issue with buds, and probably therefore an issue with new Apple airpods

       1. yeah, that was the main reason choosing these (not audio quality, which is solid). Wanted something on the go, running, etc, stayed in place. These do perfectly.

    2. I use over the ear at night when I am on the laptop while my wife is sleeping. It blocks out most of the white noise from the fan as well. I wish I knew about that model Sony before I bought what I am using now.

       1. Same. The noise cancellation of over-the-ear is what I prefer.

    3. I have those, they are great at that price point

       1. Which Richard?

       2. sorry I meant the photive pair!

    4. Interesting that wlx is 72% discount.

    5. An alternative design could have been:

45. $160 is a bargain when I add up all the hours I’ve spent untangling the cord on my earbuds after I inevitably stuff them in the bottom of my messenger bag.

    1. For each cord, have a Ziplock freezer bag. Main sizes, 1 quart and 1 gallon. Also carry twist ties to help secure coils of the cords. Freezer bags aren’t just for frozen foods anymore!

46. I predict a dud. Likely to fall out while walking, running, biking; easy to lose; costly to replace; cumbersome to charge. Instead of a single point of failure, two.

    1. Mattew Zadrozny:It is already a dud. This is another IWatch failure. All people will do is purchase a Wireless Bluetooth headset for under $20.00.In other news.Disclosure: Not a fan of overpriced, duplicator of others innovation, still living offthe myth of Steve (Deadbeat dad-Lisa Nicole Brennan) Jobs leadership.

47. Two of my four audio listening use cases (in my wife’s car, and falling asleep in bed) require simultaneous charging and wired audio out. I’m pretty disappointed the adapter they’re shipping doesn’t support 50% of my needs.

48. I’ve recently got to pilot a set of bluetooth headphones, manufactured by a different company made in competition with Apple AirPods. Overall the experience was great with smooth UX setup and clear sound for phone calls on both sides of the call. The difference for me was with music where, similar to past experience with other bluetooth devices, quality never seems to be as good vs. wired. Sound didn’t seem “full” with bass either overwhelming or overpowering highs. (I listen to music day and night so this is big for me.) Separately, it’s my understanding that Apple also rolled out a new custom bluetooth chipset to improve connectivity with AirPods. I’ll be curious to see how this works since bluetooth for me seems to always cut in/out regardless as to which device I’m using (less reliable than wired). My expectation is that most will go wired vs. AirPods given price point and the fact that generally speaking, wired has better sound quality and higher reliability.

49. Hard to beat the reliability, cost, and ease of use of a wired headset. Bluetooth does have its advantages if you need to be able to freely move your arms without worrying about the wires (at the gym for example), however wires are not too hard to work with even in those cases. And though Bluetooth is relatively low power compared to your phone, I prefer not to have a transmitter stuck in my ear. I am sure we will find out one day that it is definitively not good for you.

50. Revenue model innovation at its best. iPhone revenue continuing to soften? Make customers buy two next time. Problem solved. Now that takes courage.

51. The lifespan of wired buds isn’t that great if you use them fairly regularly. The wires aren’t insulated well and they break at high friction points. That’s always been my beef. (Last two pairs have been Bose.) Maybe the AirPods won’t look so silly over time, but what bothers me most is the degradation of audio quality. It started w/ compressed files and the masses have over time just adopted to shit sound.

52. Have the LG wireless, and have had trouble pairing them to my phone. Use wired if I don’t have time. I agree that we are in for a wireless future-and wireless power is huge. Made an investment in it (nucurrent.com)

53. I’m starting to finally understand this look a little bit better. Ear gauging, now w/ high fidelity.http://www.dispatch.com/con…

54. I love wearing BT headphones while exercising and while working in the kitchen. Not having to carry a phone in my pocket (for kitchen work), and not having the cords get snagged (both use cases) is a huge improvement. I bought a $50 set that is good enough. Can’t remember the name or model. Not super comfortable, they don’t fit great. Which isn’t a glowing review, but the benefit to not having cords is that important. I’d consider the Air Pods if/when these break.More excited to try the new Apple Watch. Being able to track run data with no phone makes me a buyer.

55. first it’s worth mentioning that Apple was not the first to do this – they are following Motorola, which ditched the headphone jack for the Moto Z and Moto Z Force (but not the Moto Z Play). I have the Force and so have been living without a headphone jack for well over a month. It’s not been a big deal as I don’t used wired headphones much anyway, and if I need to well there’s the USB-C to 1/8″ plug dongle. Dongle has been in my bag the whole month, haven’t used it. I have a pair of the LG around-the-neck Bluetooth headphones, which I think Fred posted about here and which are quite comfortable and don’t get lost. Can’t think of another pair of headphones that deals as well with the oh-i-need-to-take-out-the-earbuds-for-a-minute-to-talk-to-someone scenario. By comparison, seems to be that AirBuds would get lost easily.There are of course other great things about the Moto Z, especially the mods, but I’ll save that for another post…

56. Non-scientific data point, but I saw the video on the AirPods, showed it to wife and two kids (one teen, one pre-teen), and all four of us instantly coveted. Three of us are not early adopter for sake of early adoption types. One data point on sound quality and stay on ear reliability: http://daringfireball.net/l…

57. They’re going to ship with headphones that go into the Lightning Port. If you don’t want AirPods, you can still get wired headphones. I think it’s going to be fine. To be honest, Bluetooth headphones have never been great for me, but I haven’t tried them in a while. I am still switching back to an iPhone once I’m done with this Android phone. Even if Apple isn’t great, Google’s Android Nexus phones are worse.

58. i’ll be buying a Pixel phone with 7.1 Nougat.

59. I honestly can’t see this going well for Apple. I think it’s a great feature but I don’t think they can force peoples hands to convert to a cordless world right away. The apple watch was an add on and that’s why it worked. Wireless blue tooth microphones have been around for ever but I rarely see people using them compared to the classic apple white headphones. As a frequent traveler who uses his phone 16 hours out of every day, I can’t imagine having to decide whether to charge my phone or connect my hard wired headphones to take a call. On top of all this we’re seeing parents give their children devices at earlier ages every year. $160 ear buds doesn’t work for kids let along a family of 3 or 4 with 4+ devices in the household. Apple has basically just forced middle income families to switch to Android devices purely for the price tag of ear buds.

    1. You can use any BT headphones with an iphone though. Obviously they will push theirs, but the family can get cheapie BT headphones.

60. I got TrekZ Titanium for my birthday. It’s so much more convenient than any wired headphone! It’s not just wireless, but also bone-conducting.I just pull it on whenever I leave the house. Also it keeps my ears open so I can hear everything that’s happening around me. When not listening to music it just sits there so I usually forget about it. But when someone calls you just press a button and talk.Obviously the sound quality is good only in complete silence since you keep hearing all the sounds through the ears as well.

61. I have the JLab Epic 2 bluetooth earbuds. The first ones (Epic 1) despite being sweat proof were destroyed running. The second ones are more sweat proof but seem to be having some issues as well. I need something that can handle my running routine.Other than that gripe, bluetooth earbuds are a world of an improvement over wired. Great to have freedom to walk around my apartment and still listen to streaming video, etc. from my MacBook Pro. I also use them with the Apple Watch when running, I don’t bring my phone.The W1 chip is promising but I’m not sure I love the idea of the Airpods and Beats are overpriced.

62. I run a lot, 250 miles/month, and use Yurbuds Ironman headphones nearly religiously. They are the only headphones I’ve found that are comfortable in my ears for long periods (2.5 hours at a stretch), have decent sound quality, and stay put in my ears. They don’t last forever, so I buy 3-4 sets at a time every year or so.I just bought an iphone SE after cracking my 6 screen, just so I could wait for the headphone market to catch up to new iphones. as a side note, I love the form factor of the SE, never was happy with the size of the 6. The SE has better battery, is way lighter, and much nicer to hold.

63. Chords have never truly been a pain point for me, but I understand that the decision isn’t about the clumsiness of chords.1) I’ll need good blue tooth headphones that wrap around the ear. Ear buds have always just fallen out for me, and are a non starter for using while jogging. My skull candy $20 pair have worked perfectly fine for years. I have a hard time imagining good enough blue tooth headphones of a similar make will be $20.2) One thing chords will always be superior in is battery life, and I really don’t like the idea having yet another device that needs charging.

64. I don’t see the appeal of this…I use my iPhone all through the workday and routinely spend many hours between long phone calls and listening to music as white noise. I’ve got 4 or 5 pairs of wired headphones in various spots–briefcase, car, gym bag, nightstand at home, travel bag. I’d run through 5 hours of battery life many days with no real opportunity to recharge. I don’t need another device to charge and don’t want to pay $800 to have these headphones everywhere. Maybe I end up wrong but this doesn’t seem great to me. Sounds like I’ll just need to buy another adapter.

65. Long time listener; first time caller.I have had an iPhone continually since its second iteration; have had a number of problems with the earphones for a variety of reasons – namely the cables splitting (agree with the poster below that says that Apple does not do cables well).The bigger, overriding problem has been the battery life.All of my iPhone batteries have had significant problems after 1 yr of use and I’ve never had an Apple laptop battery, including my MacBook Air, last longer than 2 yrs. Having AirPods with a poor battery life (and Apple batteries) plus the additional drain on iPhone battery life for bluetooth headphones isn’t worth considering.It’s a big enough problem that, for the first time in a nearly a decade, I’m considering the switch to Android seriously.

66. I’m a bit disappointed. They could’ve gone all the way without any ports. No wires, wireless headphones/ear buds and wireless charging. That would’ve been really a leap forward, nice clean bezel and everything.Maybe Samsung will take the leap?

67. As someone whose mind is in a million places at once, I cant explain importance of wired headphones for keeping my iPhone within ~3 ft of me. I almost always have them in and they act as a total failsafe: if audio is being produced, I can exit an my apartment, desk, uber etc with total certainty that I have my phone/supercomputer in a pocket, bag or in some cases in my left hand. I haven’t been able to gather a definitive answer for the range of Airpods, but if it’s greater than arms length, I suspect a lot of other people like me will be losing their phone more frequently.Apple has never been one to abide by the adage “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it” – but in this case I find myself wondering, if the high-margin $30 ear buds weren’t cutting it, what other completely functional products are they going to make premium and charge me 5x for? (Not to mention the increase in Apple Care claims from all lose lost Airpods and now harder to keep track of iPhones).

68. In general, I’m a Big fan of bluetooth technology – it’s really a pretty reliable bridge for consumer products. Headphones have come a long way, less interference with bluetooth today.One thing Apple has been consistently pretty good at, is directional changes, I’m sure they are spot on with reasons to go wireless; battery life is decent and improving, and user behaviors for adoption on a percentage basis are probably pretty high at this point. What’s clever about this move, I sense they are staging this product to work (speak into them) across the apple family of devices under iOS10 – great utility with Siri in control.

69. As someone who loves change I have been dead wrong in some of the changes I have personally opposed. Such as changing *favorites* to *likes* on Twitter .So maybe I’m wrong once again but this is another reason for me to stick with Android. Plus I resent the lack of choice.Edit: Well if I’d done some research would have learned that you can still use wired headphones with a little jack that’s included.

70. OK, I’m all set.https://twitter.com/pvponli…

71. Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !ro483f:On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it !ro483f:➽➽➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash733TopResourcesGetPay$97Hour… ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★::::::!ro483f:….,…..

72. I see this as in introduction to the bigger update next year where they knew there would be no room for the 3.5mm jack. The talk is it will include conductive charging and curved glass meaning the lightning connector will be freed up for just music. So this year is about getting over the relationship with our wired headphones because the future is closer than we think.FYI – I am a big fan of my wired Bose cans but have ordered a 7plus.

73. Saw this come across my twitter feedSunglass straps are cool again!https://www.producthunt.com…

74. The design is bad and calling this courage is Apple showing its neediness.

75. Motorola came up with much better looking bluetooth headphones over a year ago. Apple should have used them for inspiration – https://www.motorolastore.c…

76. I guess 12 months from now wireless headphones will be the norm.

77. Our take at 3D Sound Labs: AirPod have started to embed motion sensors (accelerometers). We expect that the next generation of airPod-like earbuds will also include gyroscopes. When this happens, 3D Audio experience on headphones will be enabled and new music genres (VR audio only concerts, 3D Electronic Dance Music, …) will develop.

78. (crazy insensitive language btw).You are the PC police I guess.Use of retarded is appropriate and I stand by it. In terms of a product it’s applicable. It has usage in mechanical ways including one of “retard the timing” with respect to ignition timing on older autos. JLM can verify that one or do a web search.Anyway it’s clear that a v1 product never has all of the things that it can be on purpose. Otherwise they don’t have enough potentially in the pipeline to get someone to go to v2 and beyond. Plus of course feature creep and all of that.as I was working directly with Apple on projects when the phone came outBack then Apple was more secretive than they are now. Entirely possible that even if you dealt with Jobs himself directly and had beers with him he wouldn’t let you in on what their plans were. This is a strategy move and it’s obvious especially given what happened with later models. Look at the issues they are having moving the needle now that people have most of the things that they want in the iphone and are not as eager to upgrade. Of course they would strategically plan out when to put new features in newer phones. (Which doesn’t mean of course that they could make the iphone 6 on day one either..)Fwiw use of mental retardation in federal law was changed in 2010 to “developmentally disabled”. But it is still not a federal crime luckily to use the word “retard” even to describe developmentally disabled people.

79. Exactly, PRETTY DAMN GREAT.@le_on_avc:disqus — I bought iPhone V1 on 14 Feb 2008. Before, I was all into Sony products with MS Windows.That iPhone V1 is still the phone I use in the UK (that’s 8+ years!!!). In the US, I use an iPhone 5S. I’ll get the 7S because I want to play with the two cameras.

80. I didn’t say it wasn’t pretty damn great. Use of “retarded” is in reference to it not being all of the product it could be for sales purposes. This is a strategy issue, not a technology issue (although technology advancing certainly plays a role in it).I bought a iphone on the first day it came out. Of course it was a great product that isn’t what I mean. Read my other comment.

81. Yeah right, nobody does that at all, sure. And your “30 years building tech products and marketing them” proves that. And nobody uses that language as well. Nobody. I stand alone. Sure that’s it. And I will use any language I like to make my point and you and others are free to not like it just like I often don’t like your use of language as do others.

82. Small thing but imagine these combined with dangly earrings. Feels like they disregarded a part of the population with this design.

83. I confess, bones crossed my mind.

84. OMG, put Swarovski’s all over the outside of these, and I’m IN. Total game changer. OK, even just glitter. I’ll wear ’em with glitter on ’em.

85. Ha ha! And then add some cords…

86. I’m totally the reverse from you.NOOOOOO