It's $159 retail. Financial impact is minimal at worst.
I respect your opinion but reach a different conclusion.
Given: Number of iPhones sold in this quarter = 75 M (based on last year) % of those buyers getting AirPods = 10% (a guess) Additional buyers (w/o new phone) = 2 M (a guess) Price of AirPods = $159
To me, $1.5B of revenue in one quarter is a big financial impact. And it's not just DEFERRED revenue; in many cases it's LOST revenue because the customer spent their money on an alternative solution.
The negativity that has infected AI is disgusting.
And why do you think that is?
Because negativity is the fuel that powers the Internet. Major news sites and tech blogs are disabling their comments sections. IDG has disabled comments on its various tech blogs like MacWorld, PC World, Computerworld, etc. From body shaming to bullying to vicious personal attacks it’s fashionable to trash anything and everything. A family was escorting the body of their dead solider son back home and was booed by fellow passengers when the flight was slightly delayed because of it.
Sort of like the Apple Pencil debacle just last year. Device shown, support grows, interest develops, wallets open and...no show.
Tim Cook's apple.
I pretty much lost all interest in Airpods
You are only interested in impulse buying products that are immediately available after they are announced? I think that says more about you than it does about Tim Cook's Apple.
I generally fully support Apple, but this late delivery passed two important milestones: 1. Not available when the iPhone 7 went on sale (... and buyers were looking for Bluetooth earbuds) 2. Not available for the vast majority of Christmas shopping season (... which = much of the gift shopping for the full year)
That's bad. Someone screwed up. This product had significant financial potential, and much of that probably disappeared as customer bought alternate solutions.
Welp, as Jobs said they're just humans, and they make mistakes too. Obviously they wanted it out back in October...what more is there to be said from us in the peanut gallery? We don't and won't ever know why they were delayed. Do we not know other people who make mistakes, etc?
LOL! Month's overdue and 3x more expensive than BT earbuds that blow them away.
name them. There are none that match the airpods:
1. have to be true wireless. Not this BS wire connecting the two pods.
2. have to match airpods 6 hours of play time
3. cost the same price or less
4. have instant pairing
OK show me all those BT earbuds that do all that for $159
There are only two that I know of that beat Earpods and only by $10 ($150.) Bragi and http://crazybaby.com/ and neither of them are available yet. It's totally uknown if these match, exceed, or are worse quality than Apple Airpods or if they'll actually sell at the promised price and specs. At least we know that Airpods have some super convenient features unique to them which is what I want them for. It's not for sound quality (although I find EarPods to be acceptable.) So when reviews of the other two come out, we'll see. But Apple is beating them to the market, and I believe they are a really good product (assuming the bugs got worked out.) Meanwhile I for one am anxious to get them. People can laugh at me all they want, I'll be enjoying them and it won't be because of blissful ignorance.
I am curious why a very good summation of the situation by slprescott got a dislike? it isn't about cheering for the team, it is about the development and execution of what should have been a successful product launch.
It wasn't me but I do think it's a low-value post. Amounts to "Apple messed up!"
I am curious why a very good summation of the situation by slprescott got a dislike? it isn't about cheering for the team, it is about the development and execution of what should have been a successful product launch.
The 7 comes with a dongle for their 3.5mm headphone sp they are in no hurry to get the AirPods.
Macusers are very patient customers they prefer to wait than get another brand, I don't know about you, the android or windows, user.
I doubt the blame lie at the very top (Tim Cook), but missing Black Friday/Cyber Monday by even a few days is a kinda a big deal. Obviously something went very wrong with Apple making a big splash about these with the iPhone 7 launch and announcing they would ship in November (or was it October?) and them still not available even for preorder. Will this have a significant impact on Apple's bottom line? Of course not. However, I have no doubt there are tens of thousands of people who are annoyed/inconvenienced by this delay. They would be more annoyed to receive a crappy product that isn't ready for prime time, but that's besides the point. I'm just saying this wasn't handled well (and still isn't being handled well). Apple or Tim could have tweeted "Really sorry for the delay, but we're working out some kinks so we'll have enough stock on hand to meet initial demand. Expect them to go on sale in mid-December and ship immediately." That's a million times better than crickets chirping and a leaked email. Or if the answer is "found a critical bug, probably won't be ready until February" say that.
Unusual bullshit from you. Apple doesn't talk about their logistics whatsoever, because those function like trade secrets, and worse, would cause no end of additional hand-wringing.
If people are upset, that's on their own little entitled egos. These are probably one of the most difficult new things to manufacture that Apple has ever done, along with the watch. Delays are not surprising.
The iron is cold, or at least luke warm. How many less do you think they will sell compared with how many they would have sold if it had been available from day one of iPhone 7 sales? People will now realise they can get by or have chosen other solutions. Apple will still sell a lot, but it will be a lot less.
But is even worse than that. It is a symbol of an Apple where the executive group is not focussed on what makes Apple great. The creation of a seamless ecosystem that just works right from the get go.
A couple of years ago Apple decided to remove the headphone port, a decision someone paid millions of dollars a year to make these decisions would have immediately realised might be a tad 'controversial', 'courageous' even. This decision maker would have immediately realised that Apple, the world champion of the ecosystem, should come up with brilliant ways to turn that potential short term negative into a winner and make a tonne of money. A high priority would be given both to a lightning EarPods to go in the iPhone box and in parallel, a really, really cool wireless solution. Which is what I believe is exactly what happened when the decision to remove the port was made.
However, it appears that in the years since that decision, the executive let their focus be on other matters, even ones not related to the company paying them millions of dollars, and the really cool wireless solution was not given the right priority to be ready for the iPhone 7 launch, and a potentially glorious execution and tour de force coordinated product release in late September did not happen.
More bullshit. You have zero idea what difficulties turned up in making the phased-array mics, the W1, or even the plastic case that contains no wasted space.
I generally fully support Apple, but this late delivery passed two important milestones: 1. Not available when the iPhone 7 went on sale (... and buyers were looking for Bluetooth earbuds) 2. Not available for the vast majority of Christmas shopping season (... which = much of the gift shopping for the full year)
That's bad. Someone screwed up. This product had significant financial potential, and much of that probably disappeared as customer bought alternate solutions.
It's $159 retail. Financial impact is minimal at worst. I would seriously doubt that October came and millions of people decided to buy something else. The masses probably don't even know this exists. If they do, they probably don't realize it's late. You can bet your butt that as soon as they are released Apple will advertise the heck out of them and drive the demand. The product announcements only drive the demand from a very small group of people.
From a shareholder perspective the margin on that $159 product would be awesome. That helps the bottom line considerably, and keeps Wall Street happy. If enough are sold, it would allow the possibility of slightly lower margins of mainstream products, boosting sales of those products and..peripherals like the high margin airpods. A virtuous circle.
the same is true of other highmargin peripherals (well for Apple anyway) like "it just works" routers.
Yet more bullshit. You have no idea what the R&D, tooling and production costs are on these. They are hideously complicated to manufacture, looks like to me.
I doubt the blame lie at the very top (Tim Cook), but missing Black Friday/Cyber Monday by even a few days is a kinda a big deal. Obviously something went very wrong with Apple making a big splash about these with the iPhone 7 launch and announcing they would ship in November (or was it October?) and them still not available even for preorder. Will this have a significant impact on Apple's bottom line? Of course not. However, I have no doubt there are tens of thousands of people who are annoyed/inconvenienced by this delay. They would be more annoyed to receive a crappy product that isn't ready for prime time, but that's besides the point. I'm just saying this wasn't handled well (and still isn't being handled well). Apple or Tim could have tweeted "Really sorry for the delay, but we're working out some kinks so we'll have enough stock on hand to meet initial demand. Expect them to go on sale in mid-December and ship immediately." That's a million times better than crickets chirping and a leaked email. Or if the answer is "found a critical bug, probably won't be ready until February" say that.
Unusual bullshit from you. Apple doesn't talk about their logistics whatsoever, because those function like trade secrets, and worse, would cause no end of additional hand-wringing.
If people are upset, that's on their own little entitled egos. These are probably one of the most difficult new things to manufacture that Apple has ever done, along with the watch. Delays are not surprising.
There are two problems with the AirPods currently: 1. there is some sort of production/design issue. I'm sure they are working hard to fix that. 2. there is a communication issue. (They said they would be ready months ago; they aren't.) Do you believe the best that Apple could do to address the latter is to have the CEO reply to a random email and hope the words gets out? Apple has never been particularly good at this type of communication, but does that mean they should continue to suck at it? Like the secret to Apple's success is never acknowledging problems and letting rumor sites create the narrative? You really think it would be revealing trade secrets if someone at Apple publicly said "Sorry; things didn't go according to plans, but they'll go on sale within the next two weeks"? That's what Tim said, he just did it in a way that isn't very effective.
If I tell my wife I will be home in time for dinner and I'm late, I get a better reception if I call ahead and apologize than just showing up 3 hours late. Does my marriage suffer irreparable harm if I just show up late with no warning? Probably not, but I've annoyed someone unnecessarily. It's that simple.
The negativity that has infected AI is disgusting.
And why do you think that is?
Because negativity is the fuel that powers the Internet. Major news sites and tech blogs are disabling their comments sections. IDG has disabled comments on its various tech blogs like MacWorld, PC World, Computerworld, etc. From body shaming to bullying to vicious personal attacks it’s fashionable to trash anything and everything. A family was escorting the body of their dead solider son back home and was booed by fellow passengers when the flight was slightly delayed because of it.
I am not saying that there aren't some off-the-wall postings here, but very little of what is posted here falls into categories of the types of examples you bring up. Please don't exaggerate.
I have noticed more angst about Apple, as you have. Some of that angst is even from me, a very long-time member here. My long history of views on the company speak for themselves, so I don't have to defend them to anyone. The simple fact is that many people have developed a nagging sense of drift about some of the things that are happening (or not) with the company. There is a palpable sense of unease that can't be dismissed.
Apple has been through this before, including throwing out its iconic founder-CEO, then falling into a precipice, then bringing him back, then transforming itself to transform the computing and entertainment worlds like we've rarely seen before. We're a long way from having to repeat anything resembling that, but we have also got to recognize that our new, default 'benchmark' is a company that went from being nearly bankrupt to being the most successful company in the history of corporations. One whose stock price went up many dozens of times in less than two decades.
For better or worse, that is the benchmark against which Tim Cook is being, and will be, judged. This is not the first time that's happened to a CEO. Disney went through it, after Walt; GE went through it, after Welch; Intel went through it, after Grove; Microsoft went though it, after Gates. The list goes on.
The simple fact is that Apple needs a post-iPad home run. Until then, the angst will grow.
Sort of like the Apple Pencil debacle just last year. Device shown, support grows, interest develops, wallets open and...no show.
Tim Cook's apple.
I pretty much lost all interest in Airpods
You are only interested in impulse buying products that are immediately available after they are announced? I think that says more about you than it does about Tim Cook's Apple.
More likely is that he ran out of that $200 that was in his wallet that he went on harping about.
The simple fact is that Apple needs a post-iPad home run. Until then, the angst will grow.
Tim Cook was the czar of manufacturing and logistics under Jobs. He delivered amazing amounts of bleeding edge designs and technologies to a global audience. He made Apple scale.
Jobs introduced affordable computers like iMac, iBook, and mac Mini. He did the same with iPod. The current situation is that everything is priced at or beyond Pro, products get updates late and behind PC vendors, the coherent experience has been discontinued, and the design language has been around since TiBook in 2001.
Moonshots are nice, but Apple has to bring the Mac up again. All products, all the time - and make the eco system and experience work. Removing networks and displays, not upgrading computers for 3 years, and axing the automation team... it can't continue.
LOL! Month's overdue and 3x more expensive than BT earbuds that blow them away.
What BT earbuds that cost $53 blow away AirPods?
Mantone QY8 BT buds produce sound twice as good as Apple EarPods and cost under $20. It's a known fact Apple makes junky sounding uncomfortable ill fitting earbuds which is why discerning uses immediately replace them. Word is AirPods sound just as junky as EarPods and people are going to lose one or the other in the droves.
Sources within Apple corporate have told AppleInsider that there was "no way" that the company was going to miss a holiday season release.
Hmm...
So, it's all about quality control unless that means they miss the holidays, in which case, just get it out the door?
I was interested in these, but I will definitely be holding off until I see reviews and how they are working for real customers.
Actually we don't know what it's about, so your guess is as worthless as anyone else's.
It could be that they couldn't source the parts needed to get them out. It could also be that that they decided not to release them at the same time as the Beats wireless line so as not to dilute the focus across too many similar products.
Comments
Given:
Number of iPhones sold in this quarter = 75 M (based on last year)
% of those buyers getting AirPods = 10% (a guess)
Additional buyers (w/o new phone) = 2 M (a guess)
Price of AirPods = $159
Missed revenue = ((75M * 10%) + 2M) * $159 = $1,510,500
To me, $1.5B of revenue in one quarter is a big financial impact. And it's not just DEFERRED revenue; in many cases it's LOST revenue because the customer spent their money on an alternative solution.
But Apple is beating them to the market, and I believe they are a really good product (assuming the bugs got worked out.) Meanwhile I for one am anxious to get them.
People can laugh at me all they want, I'll be enjoying them and it won't be because of blissful ignorance.
It wasn't me but I do think it's a low-value post. Amounts to "Apple messed up!"
So do people with unrealistic expectations and demands about Apple gear (thinking about your Watch post).
Macusers are very patient customers they prefer to wait than get another brand, I don't know about you, the android or windows, user.
If people are upset, that's on their own little entitled egos. These are probably one of the most difficult new things to manufacture that Apple has ever done, along with the watch. Delays are not surprising.
If I tell my wife I will be home in time for dinner and I'm late, I get a better reception if I call ahead and apologize than just showing up 3 hours late. Does my marriage suffer irreparable harm if I just show up late with no warning? Probably not, but I've annoyed someone unnecessarily. It's that simple.
I have noticed more angst about Apple, as you have. Some of that angst is even from me, a very long-time member here. My long history of views on the company speak for themselves, so I don't have to defend them to anyone. The simple fact is that many people have developed a nagging sense of drift about some of the things that are happening (or not) with the company. There is a palpable sense of unease that can't be dismissed.
Apple has been through this before, including throwing out its iconic founder-CEO, then falling into a precipice, then bringing him back, then transforming itself to transform the computing and entertainment worlds like we've rarely seen before. We're a long way from having to repeat anything resembling that, but we have also got to recognize that our new, default 'benchmark' is a company that went from being nearly bankrupt to being the most successful company in the history of corporations. One whose stock price went up many dozens of times in less than two decades.
For better or worse, that is the benchmark against which Tim Cook is being, and will be, judged. This is not the first time that's happened to a CEO. Disney went through it, after Walt; GE went through it, after Welch; Intel went through it, after Grove; Microsoft went though it, after Gates. The list goes on.
The simple fact is that Apple needs a post-iPad home run. Until then, the angst will grow.
More likely is that he ran out of that $200 that was in his wallet that he went on harping about.
Not to mention that factual refutations of doom posts are also down-voted...
Jobs introduced affordable computers like iMac, iBook, and mac Mini. He did the same with iPod. The current situation is that everything is priced at or beyond Pro, products get updates late and behind PC vendors, the coherent experience has been discontinued, and the design language has been around since TiBook in 2001.
Moonshots are nice, but Apple has to bring the Mac up again. All products, all the time - and make the eco system and experience work. Removing networks and displays, not upgrading computers for 3 years, and axing the automation team... it can't continue.
It could be that they couldn't source the parts needed to get them out. It could also be that that they decided not to release them at the same time as the Beats wireless line so as not to dilute the focus across too many similar products.