Earphones or headphones are an important part of mobile devices since Sony released Walkman in 1979. They were continuously improved and differentiated according to size, sound quality (according to bass, treble, groove, etc.), comfort, remote features, design, and branding. Since the first release of headphones to in earphones, people weren’t able to hide the device on their ears, but after this improvement users started to use headphones more comfortable in their ears.
In the 1990s having in earphones were more preferred than headphones. Because it was perceived as more stylish, new technology and smaller sized. When we came to the 2000’s Apple released the first Gen iPod and it changed the game from the design perspective. Because the iPod was white and earphones were white. The monotone design of the iPod became a cult design in a short time. Even the 3.5mm earphone jack was not durable and deformed in a short time, people were happy to use. a fashionable tech accessory. So white cable earphones became trendy.
In the 2000’s the headphone/earphone market was divided into parts which were sound quality, design and noise cancelling and wireless connectivity. One or multiple features were released into the market and starting from a single product, the headphone market took a large space in electronic shops and this situation increased the level of competition. With this hard condition of the market, branding was the key aspect of getting more profit from each unit sold.
I’m not an expert in the headphone market. But as a basic user, I could see a few brands and their perceived value. Bose was offering good quality sound and comfort, Bang&Olufsen was offering good quality sound and luxurious design, commodity tech brands like Sony, Philips and rest were offering various features for accessible market prices. Jabra and Sennheiser were offering comfortable Bluetooth headsets for mobile phone talking. Then in the late 2000s, Beats became a trendy brand in this market with its distinctive style, colors, branding, and sound quality. Before Beats people were using large size headphones less frequently because of the poorly designed products and branding. But after Beats, the market was expanded.
As a mid-high level income user I tried various headphones and earphones. I was not preferring in-ear silicone earphones because of earplug feeling. So I was preferring headphones. When I spend a considerable amount of money on a product I expect it to perform what I paid for it. For me, Bose Quiet Comfort headphones were offering good sound for a reasonable price. The product was good except battery time. I don’t like an accessory such as this needs a replaceable battery or have a short battery time. Then I tried Beats Pro for a no battery feature, better sound quality, and comfort. It was very disappointing because it's on-ear parts were too tight and after 30 mins time, my ear started to ache and sweating. Then I got a Bose QC25 gift and tried to use it for a while but I was not successful. Because It was deforming the shape of my hair because of its pressure on my hair. Then in 2017, I switched to Bose Soundsport Bluetooth earphones which had 6 hours of battery time and good sound quality. Although at that time Apple AirPods were in the market I choose Bose because I knew that Bose was better in sound quality and I wasn’t expecting Apple’s promising smooth connectivity would be successful. Bose soundsport was offering 3 sizes of in ear plug silicone parts to fit in your ear and promising never fall from your ear. But it was not true. When my ear sweats during my runs, the earphones starter falling from my ear. I searched a solution from the Bose support pages and the only solution was to wash the silicone part with soap and dry. Additionally, charging was another problem. I need to carry another cable because I was using Apple iPhone and Bose’s cables were different. I was only happy with the sound quality of my earphones. Finally, I gave up trying to pay off my Bose soundsport earphones.
Last month my brother asked me why not I wasn’t using Apple AirPods. And I replied that I paid that money to my Bose soundsport and trying to pay off it. He observed that I’m not able to use it efficiently and tried to encourage me to buy AirPods. A 15 minute charge could take 3 hours of listening time. The earphones connect immediately when you place it in your ear. Because of having different batteries the case charges earphones separately so the battery time would never be a problem for the user he said. And the best feature for me was it will never fall from your ear and sweat your ear. Then he said that if you don’t want to buy it, I’ll buy an AirPods gift for you. And I bought one with a wireless charging feature. After using it for a month, I can say that all these suggestions and comments were true. Apple saw the ergonomics problems with the earphones on the market and designed a very lightweight and smoothly connecting wireless earphones. The sound quality was important for me, but after not being able to use the investment sound quality is not important for me at all.
In this story, I briefly tried to identify the headphone products from my point of view, my experiences and results. Apple identified the needs of customers clearly and solved it for a reasonable price. Even their Beats brand is losing its perceived value from customers view and not successful in this product range, Apple had much more success on AirPods. In my previous article I criticized Apple for its faults, but to be honest, Apple had a good job of defining and solving problems with this issue.
If you are interested you can read a more detailed article proving this article is: https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-airpods-most-important-product-after-iphone-q3-earnings-2019-7
