Above Avalon:
Apple has a hit on its hands, or maybe we should say in its ears. AirPods have become the second best-selling Apple product out of the gate of all time. More interestingly, there are signs of AirPods now becoming a cultural phenomenon. AirPods do a superb job of demonstrating Apple’s competitive advantages with wearables, a product category that will come to define Apple for decades.
Interesting analysis but for me, it’s tempered by that fact that where I live in Vancouver, Canada, I rarely if ever see AirPods in use.
This is, apparently, my daily curse… to remind you that Vancouver != the world. There’s no reason that what you experience should ‘temper’ the data.
Above Avalon has a serious bee in their bonnet about wearable tech – anything they say about the future of “wearables” in Apple’s roadmap, I always take with a large block of salt.
That said, I almost never see airpods here in Toronto either. I think they’re “a cultural phenomenon” in the rarefied atmosphere of tech-rich cities like SF and not so much amongst the general population.
I see them all the time here in Nashville.
Above Avalon ignores two years of Apple’s high-sales accessory, instead focusing upon a foolish meme as valid confirmation of its popularity.
Got it.
Vancouver != Greater Vancouver
Pretty sure Shawn is a resident of the latter. I was in the former last weekend, used my Airpods, and saw a number of other people with them as well.
Was also in Abbotsford and didn’t see any.
I use mine almost every day, but I don’t wear them when wandering outside or anything. 🙂
I live in Abbotsford! I wear mine every day!
…which, of course, means nothing. I’m just saying. 🙂
LOL!
I’ve flown a lot in the last few weeks. I hadn’t travelled much since Airpods were introduced 2 years ago, and I was surprised at how many people I saw wearing them.
I don’t usually listen to much music when outside because I prefer to be aware of what’s going on around me. But if I’m expecting a call or already on one, I’ll keep one in an ear.
It’s usually the right one, so I think that battery is dying a little faster than the left. 🙂
Well I can say that here in the wilds of Baja Arizona they’re all over the place.
I see them EVERYWHERE from large west coast cities to even people in small east coast cities.
Where in Vancouver are you?
They are everywhere
Just in the past month I’ve started to see a huge uptick in the amount I see just walking downtown or surrodings.
Where I live in the UK, I see them all the time. Most tellingly, I would say that if I spot anyone with wireless earphones, 99 out of 100 it’s AirPod.
I see them all the time in Belgium. So often even that I suspect a lot of people are wearing fakes.
I see them all the time in Vienna/Austria. I’ve always been sceptical that people would wear such things as AR-Glasses when they finally become a useable reality, but after seeing so many people on the streets who never take their airpods out – even when talking to each other – I can now easily imagine us all become cyborgs one day.
The fakes I’ve seen are usually clearly much bigger than real AirPods.
Interesting point but I wonder how people would react to Apple Glass? After all, so many of us *don’t* want to wear corrective glasses.
Everyone’s wearing a toque down over their ears, how would you?
(I kid, but I also sort of don’t.)
I see them often enough in Portland, but that’s probably also “tech-rich” enough.
(I also see tons of offers for AirPod Clones on deal sites and the like, which is probably honestly a better gauge of popularity.
Well, that and just sales numbers.)
Also, I wear glasses. I don’t want an expensive AR thing that is double-expensive because it needs to be RX, and also weighs anything more than my existing ones do, which is a high bar, since I throw money at them precisely to make them extra light.
Exactly. The vast majority of people *don’t* want to wear glasses – I sure don’t. So how is Apple (or Google or anyone else) going to convince us to change that?
i hear you, i wear glasses/contacts too, and i’d be only too happy to get surgery and dump them, if i had the money – on the other hand: a lot of people wear sunglasses (even in their profile-pic 🙂 ). maybe this can be differentiated (like with hearing aids vs. earplugs)