Syncing is usually relatively painless but reliably and "instantly" reconnecting is a long ways off. I have maybe a 50% success rate without going to Settings>Bluetooth and clicking on the device. That inexplicably fails about a quarter of the time and I have to powercycle the speaker and toggle bluetooth off/on a few times until it decides to work again.
That rate drops to basically 0 if the speaker is paired to multiple phones, or there are multiple speakers in range of my phone.
If I had to deal with that multiple times per day like with headphones I'd just give up and return it.
I have one absolutely reliable connection (turntable>bluetooth transmitter>stereo) but even that one takes about 15 seconds to establish after turning everything on.
The numbers look more reasonable now, but ultimately its a hard sell especially when Apple doesn't actually need to make a profit for its accessories, but you do. Even then, what's the market look like for this without an Apple. I suspect not very large and its Apple's own marketing efforts that have gotten people interested in these tiny wireless earbuds anyway.
Do you have data to support that claim?
Amazon might sell hardware at cost or a loss, but Apple most certainly only sells hardware when two conditions are met: a) they can make a better device and b) they can make money
I just stopped by their site and saw their farewell message. I could 50+ people in the photo. That's 50 salaries this startup had to absorb every month. If we assume 100k real cost per head (recruiting, pay, benefits, etc) then we're at $5m per month on salary alone. If it took 2 year from idea to product, then you're in the hole $120m. If you sell these headphones with a markup and post-everything margin of $30 per set, which seems reasonable, then you need 4m in sales to break even. That's a serious amount of sales to push through.