Didn't these launch last fall? What is the deal with month+ wait times when ordering them? I don't get it, why hasn't Apple wither increased production or are the just trying to keep demand high artificially by controlling how many are released and when?
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Why are Airpods still so hard to get?
- Thread starter rockitdog
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Because that's a very affordable piece of apple magic ?
Many overlooked them when announced and now seems *everybody* want them.
No company want to miss sales especially christmas ones, that can't be made on
purpose. Monitoring stocks since launch, there's no doubt the production is constantly getting bigger.
Many overlooked them when announced and now seems *everybody* want them.
No company want to miss sales especially christmas ones, that can't be made on
purpose. Monitoring stocks since launch, there's no doubt the production is constantly getting bigger.
I'd call December 15 winter and not fall. 10 weeks ago more or less.
Demand > supply.
/thread
We don't know that they haven't increased production. They are very popular and there off to a successful run. Part of the demand is they were to launch last October, which they didn't. A lot of hype and tension built up and they have been backordered since. Artificial control isn't proven, I would say overall popularity is, being these are new and innovative.
I would say the just underestimated the amount of people who wanted them. Just look at this site even at the amount of complaints about the lack of headphone jack, those who think the sound quality of bluetooth isn't good enough, complaints about the pods not fitting the ears well. Im sure there is many more, and now we are adding they didn't make enough.
It's because there aren't enough threads created about them on MacRumors. We need to post harder!
Scarcity principle
and quality issues
Of course they could have produced many more and made them widely available if they wanted
It's just not profitable to do this, so they insist on this despicable policy, to sell only few units.
I have cancelled my order made on B&H because they had an estimate date of May to start shipping. For a February purchase. This is ridiculous and I am not another fool who will make Apple clowns richer because they think 160 USD isn't enough.
They can shove all their limited stock of this product up their asses, I am never buying this again, and I am done with Apple's antics.
I want no more Apple products as of today.
and quality issues
Of course they could have produced many more and made them widely available if they wanted
It's just not profitable to do this, so they insist on this despicable policy, to sell only few units.
I have cancelled my order made on B&H because they had an estimate date of May to start shipping. For a February purchase. This is ridiculous and I am not another fool who will make Apple clowns richer because they think 160 USD isn't enough.
They can shove all their limited stock of this product up their asses, I am never buying this again, and I am done with Apple's antics.
I want no more Apple products as of today.
Take this passion and go cure a disease or something. They are headphones.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/best-wireless-headphones-for-ipad.1953672/page-4#post-22993815
I was planning on buying these headphones long before they were announced and these forums became flooded with users interested in them.
I have two iPADs and two Earpods with me, bought at the same time, so I don't need you to tell me "they are just headphones". I am not complaining because I didn't get it.
That is besides the point. What I am saying is that I won't stand anymore so much lack of respect and professionalism not only from Apple... from practically everyone that pretends to sell them.
Are people so dumb these days that they can't see things as they are anymore? Will we need to explain the grass is green, too? This is a very old (and dirty) business tactic, that can only flourish in a materialistic, stupid society.
I have seen many instances of the scarcity principle and stopped supporting companies that exploit everyone's ignorance of how harmful this policy can be. Believe me when I say It bothers me a lot more to realize this is still being done these days and people are not denouncing as it is rather than not having the actual product.
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It would be much more profitable for Apple to produce many more, if they can. However, demand >>> supply.
Your conclusions lack sufficient evidence to fulfill any burden of proof that comes with your accusations. By all means rant and boycott as much as you need though.
If you wanted them so bad, why would you preorder from a third party retailer in the first place who have zero idea when or how much stock they are getting? Order from Apple who usually beat their estimated ship date time. There are also alert notification services you can sign up with which will alert you in real time when a local Apple store gets them in stock. Yes, they are hard to get, but I was able to get my hands on multiple pairs for myself and family members/friends.
This is a naive conclusion. I'll explain why: Apple's products will always sell, thanks to the "hardcore fans" who will always buy everything this company creates, even if they started selling poop tomorrow they would still convince a lot of people. You really think Apple would lose money if they pulled a stunt like this?
Moreover, do you think they would disclose this for all of us if they were really doing?
Don't you think it's too convenient that not only every store can't get enough stock, also the ones (or the people) who are selling these Airpods are charging 200 USD or more in Amazon, eBay and anywhere else?
Am I supposed to think Apple can't be behind this?
Do you want me to give you a good example of how the scarcity principle works? Old videogames.
Less than a decade ago they were sold anywhere in the world for reasonable prices. Nowadays (also thanks to all the s.hitty new stuff available in the last two decades, but let's not discuss that) they are ALL being sold as if they were ALL great.
What happened? Did all these games (even the bad ones) improved over night? No.
Don't we have emulators/roms, scanned manuals and ways to consume them again that overshadow completely those old methods, and all these decaying antiques?
Do all buyers care about all these improvements and how bad the old stuff was to use it/still is?
No... and why they purchase them anyway? Are they interested in looking at the hardware? Do they have good reasons such as "the emulation not being perfect"?
Nope. They do it because they see themselves as "collectors" and want to physically own what they have, to tell others that they do...
This tells me that the brand and the (emotional) marketing are what really sells, the quality of the final product or the reality of things doesn't matter in the slightest.
Just tell people that you are selling a rare item and they will jump to buy it also thanks to the current mindset of this world that you can only be successful if you fill your life with useless things.
Don't we have any more stock of these old games? Is everyone buying them, that's why a SNES game is sold for 200 dollars?
Yes, many people are interested... yet we never see the stocks really gone (contrary to what we think). And these companies could sell them again to supply the demand anytime they feel like it, since they own the IP.
Will they do it? No... they usually do this, but only for a short time, or in very limited versions.
That's why I don't support consoles, I prefer to use my PC (and now the iPAD), because consoles force me to become another slave.
Even worse if they can pull off the contents you paid, like Amazon did with Kindle ebooks. You don't have a right to backup anything you own. That's what scarcity does to benefit us, and I didn't even mention the loss of old material thanks to draconian copyright laws (where something doesn't go to public domain for centuries, and even if it does they can restore copyright) that prevent restoration projects and allow the IP owners to remove these contents out of everyone's reach.
Emulators are a good way to get rid of this dependence of buying overpriced games as much as using the Earpods or buying another bluetooth headphone from another company is, if you want to send a "message" to Apple that you won't tolerate a system of exploitation which puts the most exploitative robber barons to shame.
I would love to, if they start shipping to freight forwarders, or accept international credit cards.
I had the same problem with Best Buy, I was going to use them, if were not for this same reason.
I won't buy anything sold in my country (and that includes the official Apple's website) to avoid paying huge import taxes. At least B&H has the decency to allow customers to send their products to their U.S. addresses.
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I still think it's a make x amount and see how they sell vs make ten million and hope they sell.
Or perhaps they want to charge you more than 160 USD and only sell few units on purpose?
Don't you think that it's all a ploy, an elaborated scam, to only distribute few units for few stores, and then flood other sites such as eBay and Amazon selling these devices for USD 200 or more?
Do you honestly think Apple would not pull that out if they wanted to exploit us more without anyone complaining?
The only complaints I see here are that this item is out of stock. Do you see anyone else stating the obvious?
Isn't Apple specialized into exploiting all customers by charging ridiculous prices?
I really believed the excuses that they had issues with the production:
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/12/28/airpods-battery-drain-charging-case/
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/12/20/airpods-teardown-charging-case/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/airpods-and-headache-ear-pain.2022765/
Now, unless you tell me that Apple is selling a lot less units due to defects in these devices, the scarcity principle is the only reasonable explanation. Apple is the last company in the world that would go bankrupt if they sold limited units of whatever product they are offering.
Would you prefer to sell 1 million Airpods for 160 USD each or 500K for USD 200?
This isn't the first time and won't be the last that someone does this. There are many albums and DVDs that are only sold in limited quantities for no reason at all, to make huge profits. And you are the criminal if you take a moral stance and don't buy from them, and opt for free copies.
What that Youtube video said about new games is one of the reasons I don't care about any of them. You buy something that is incomplete and need to throw a lot more cash to unlock many things. You are forced to go online. You are enslaved to a subscription...
Guys... guys... please.
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By math alone, a fool would go with the $500K. How is that even an example?
Conspiracy theorists are too far out there. If something gives you hours upon hours of fun and excitement, the people developing it all should make money off it.
The ONLY industry that matches your conspiracy is diamonds. DeBeers owns all the mines and they control the prices. Everything else you point out has competition which negates any type of "scarcity principle" argument.
Sorry, that part made me look stupid because I didn't explain it properly: you will end up paying more than that, in most cases that's not the final price (you'll need to outbid your rivals). In the long run all these companies benefit from the low stocks. It doesn't interest them to made their products widely available.
Great, now I am a conspiracy theorist because I understand a little of economics and don't buy any s.hit (I mean take at face value) these companies tell us...
Do you like being a slave?
Really? A little economics? Well, I understand economics both domestic and internationally, micro and macro. The only slave here is you to your thoughts and those whom you buy in to.
Live life how you want and the rest of us will live ours how we like. Believe what you want, right or wrong, that's your right.
Supply and demand (a little econ there for you, ha!) - that's why AirPods are difficult to find. Eventually, demand will settle and Apple's manufacturing will be able to catch up. Quality control is part of that. I personally believe Apple ran in to some manufacturing snafus and quality control needed to make some adjustments. It's a new product to them and there were bound to be issues. Believing anything different is just nuts.
Live life how you want and the rest of us will live ours how we like. Believe what you want, right or wrong, that's your right.
Supply and demand (a little econ there for you, ha!) - that's why AirPods are difficult to find. Eventually, demand will settle and Apple's manufacturing will be able to catch up. Quality control is part of that. I personally believe Apple ran in to some manufacturing snafus and quality control needed to make some adjustments. It's a new product to them and there were bound to be issues. Believing anything different is just nuts.
I assure you that it wasn't simply that part.
Now you're getting it.
That's not what that means.
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Last I checked Apple was still charging the same price today as the day they were released. Secondly, a simple mind such as yourself would assume QA and any other manufacturing related issues would mean that ALL AirPods sold have problems based on what I said. Not even close. It would seem you know nothing about economics and absolutely NOTHING about manufacturing.
As stated earlier, everyone has a right to their opinion. Your vile words (last sentence), however, are unacceptable in this conversation. I will no longer be responding to you as I will no longer be seeing what you type. I wish you well in your future, you're going to need it.
I'm not sure where your getting all this from. Stop buying anything Apple if your that hell bent on them being a horrible company.
The point I am trying to make is that a company like Apple isn't good or bad, only that exists solely to make more money.
That should be obvious, and apparently isn't for a few of you...
You either continue to make more money or you will not last long. In case you haven't noticed other multinational technology companies are not worth these days what they were for decades. Doing something like this to survive is not that far-fetched.
What I said in my last post was that Apple is the last, THE LAST that I would believe to never do something like this to exploit its customers.
Do you think they create all these devices for what reason? To benefit mankind and... that's all?
No! They create good stuff, I'll admit, and charge a lot for it. Is this is right or wrong? And what about the people who are in charge?
That's totally besides the point. And not even being discussed. Nobody is forcing you to buy from them, and they have a right to charge 10K USD for these headphones if they see fit.
What I won't accept are lies and deceits.
There's not a single shred of evidence that explains why after months these headphones still need 6 weeks (or 2 months) to be delivered if you want to buy them TODAY.
The only explanation is the scarcity principle and for that theory I don't need to present any proof, it's self-evident. You only need to follow the money, whenever something becomes rare in the market there's always a swindler making huge profits.
And only a very naive person would believe that it does not interest to all these companies to sell their products in low stocks, cause they are losing money if they do that...
This argument is so cringeworthy that when I hear it I don't want to curse, instead I feel like bombing things... the only benefit it can do is for the very people who created this scenario in the first place.
The easiest way to elevate the price of a product is for it to become rare. That and a population of zombies who would buy any product and/or never question if there's something fishy going on.
I am not saying the Airpods couldn't have technical issues that prevent a more widespread distribution. Only that it's not ethical to pretend to be selling them like all these stores did or for Apple to sell them for a very limited number of people.
You hold back all the distribution until you have enough stock. Or until the issues that affect the Airpods are totally solved.
That's the right way of doing things. Release all of them at the same time or fulfill individual demands.
What I am seeing from this thread is that hardcore fans don't care about what is right or wrong, if they have what they want. Right? Isn't that what it matters? That they have their little toys and brag about it?
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The point I am trying to make is that a company like Apple isn't good or bad, only that exists solely to make more money.
That should be obvious, and apparently isn't for a few of you...
You either continue to make more money or you will not last long. In case you haven't noticed other multinational technology companies are not worth these days what they were for decades. Doing something like this to survive is not that far-fetched.
What I said in my last post was that Apple is the last, THE LAST that I would believe to never do something like this to exploit its customers.
Do you think they create all these devices for what reason? To benefit mankind and... that's all?
No! They create good stuff, I'll admit, and charge a lot for it. If this is right or wrong? And what about the people who are in charge?
That's totally besides the point. And not even being discussed. Nobody is forcing you to buy from them, and they have a right to charge 10K USD for these headphones if they see fit.
What I won't accept are lies and deceits.
There's not a single shred of evidence that explains why after months these headphones still need 6 weeks (or 2 months) to be delivered if you want to buy them TODAY.
The only explanation is the scarcity principle and for that theory I don't need to present any proof, it's self-evident. You only need to follow the money, whenever something becomes rare in the market there's always a swindler making huge profits.
And only a very naive person would believe that it does not interest to all these companies to sell their products in low stocks, cause they are losing money if they do that...
This argument is so cringeworthy that when I hear it I don't want to curse, instead I feel like bombing things... the only benefit it can do is for the very people who created this scenario in the first place.
The easiest way to elevate the price of a product is for it to become rare. That and a population of zombies who would buy any product and/or never question if there's something fishy going on.
I am not saying the Airpods couldn't have technical issues that prevent a more widespread distribution. Only that it's not ethical to pretend to be selling them like all these stores did or for Apple to sell them for a very limited number of people.
You hold back all the distribution until you have enough stock. Or until the issues that affect the Airpods are totally solved.
That's the right way of doing things. Release all of them at the same time or fulfill individual demands.
What I am seeing from this thread is that hardcore fans don't care about what is right or wrong, if they have what they want. Right? Isn't that what it matters? That they have their little toys and brag about it?
I'm not sure why them in business to make money surprises you, it's always about the money. This goes for every business out there. I'm also not sure why you think they need to explain the lack of availability of these ear pods to you, what ever their plan is they are going to run with it, as customers we chose to buy or not buy into them.
I think they made x amount and wanted to see how they sell. If it was that they had trouble with them and had to delay them they would be sitting on all this product, money, and not be able to move them. Not good for business.
If I were to believe what you say then these headpphones are very expensive/hard to be produced, and Apple thought they should charge a lot more than 160.
When I said they "exploit" us I meant that anything they sell is very expensive, and over time they only want to exact more from their customers. You rarely see anything from Apple that has reasonable prices.
If a company sells only few units of a product and later finds out they are a huge success they will either lose money or risk things with the scarcity principle. A small company can't risk doing business that way, a huge can. And will.
Anything that Apple puts in the market is rarely a failure, however people are not buying tablets and other products as they used to, simply because they continue to be expensive and it's not everyone that can switch to a new model every year.
If Apple is losing sales somehow (and I really believe they are, or at least they are not content with their actual growth), what better way to handle things besides doing everything I told, to elevate the prices without anyone questioning their tactics?
Just because you are not seeing this discussed it doesn't mean it's not true.
I find very odd that most stores don't have this product and want me to wait another month, yet in eBay you see many ads asking for 200 USD or more, there's always enough stock for them.
What you are failing to realize is that this is Apple we are talking about, not someone else that struggles to put any product in the market and if it has issues with their products (as in DEFECTIVE UNITS), they will be in trouble.
Hell, even a company like Seagate loves to distribute defective Hard Drives and just because there are few
competitors you don't see them going broke. That's because they dominate the market, it doesn't matter if their drives have a huge number of reviews saying they are unreliable.
Apple has the means to flood the market with as many units as they want, so there's no reason for this delay.
Even if you think the delay was caused by manufacturing problems and all I am saying is utter BS, still that doesn't justify what they (and most stores) did.
I agree with you on this, but it is also your theory or opinion. Time will tell if it's product issues or what.
I still think it's make X amount and sell them, they make money on them at the price point. Resellers are just buying them and flipping them, just like what happens with the phones at launch time.