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A comment on Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?. Parent comment

Re:Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing? by baybal2 on Tuesday January 07, 2020 @09:39PM (#21987757)
iPod was a shitty player few tiers below the competition. Tiny battery life, tons of bugs, IO limitations, iTunes nonsence, original, but unergonomic ui, mechanically unsound engineering.

iRivers, Cowons, and Samsungs were a head above it without any doubt. They were just never marketed in US.

Same with Smartphones. Japanese phones had all features of a smartphone a decade before the rest of the world, but they never bothered to market them outside thinking of outside world being "not advanced enough" to culturally absorb a phone as an integral lifestyle element, and not as a work tool.

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Re:Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing? by barry-cotter on Tuesday January 07, 2020 @09:54PM (#21987837)
If this was true the iPhone would have made negligible inroads in the markets where those products were available. Instead it was a massive success immediately in every market where it was offered. I’m sure it had many flaws but it was enough better where it mattered to dominate the competition.
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Re:Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing? by asdff on Tuesday January 07, 2020 @10:41PM (#21988049)
It's not a controversial opinion, it really was all marketing and polishing existing tech like the airpods. When the ipod was first revealed, even apple fanboys at the time thought it was going to be a flop given the competition used common io, didn't require proprietary software, and didn't require a proprietary OS, and also was nearly half the price.

https://www.cnet.com/news/apples-ipod-spurs-mixed-reactions/

This forum thread from the 2001 release is pretty funny:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-new-thing-ipod.5...

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Re:Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing? by barry-cotter on Tuesday January 07, 2020 @10:48PM (#21988098)
You say polishing, I say crushing superiority in user interface and design.
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Re:Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing? by gattilorenz on Wednesday January 08, 2020 @06:30AM (#21990455)
> This forum thread from the 2001 release is pretty funny:

Absolutely: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-new-thing-ipod.5...

The Reality Distiortion Field turned out to be in this guy's head :) Seriously, many technical people underestimate the power of "bringing X to the masses" by making a beautiful, easy polished, effortless UX. UX (usually) trumps functionality.

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Re:Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing? by t0ddbonzalez on Wednesday January 08, 2020 @06:34AM (#21990476)
> Oct 23, 2001

> #13

> iCan't believe it!

> It's now at the online Apple Store!

> $400 for an Mp3 Player!

>I'd call it the Cube 2.0 as it wont sell, and be killed off in a short time...and it's not really functional.

> Uuhh Steve, can I have a PDA now?"

A quote for the ages... :D

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Re:Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing? by baybal2 on Tuesday January 07, 2020 @10:02PM (#21987864)
No, Apple got literally the only one thing right, and that's their marketing
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