Apple is a brand of change. They have previously changed the shape of their iPhone, the charger, and the location of the headphone jack to name a few, but now they have decided to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone completely. Naturally, with there no longer being a location to plug in previously owned headphones, Apple has come out with a new product: Airpods. As if it wasn’t easy enough to lose headphones before, now they are smaller and there are 2 seperate pieces. But maybe that’s the plan, get customers to constantly lose their headphones and therefor constantly have to purchase new ones at $159.99 a set (Betters).

The outrage has already begun with consumers posting videos of drilling “new headphone jacks” into their iPhones and talking about this drastic change all across social media. However, this kind of thing happens every time Apple makes a change, then a few months go by everyone accepts it and moves on. Will it be the same this time around?

Airpods are two separate wireless headphones that connect to the iPhone (Easton). To ease the transition of moving away from headphone jacks, Apple will be providing EarPods with a lightning connector with the purchase of every new iPhone (Betters). Regardless of this alternative, I am confident it will not last long and the movement towards completely wireless headphones will remain underway.

Along with this movement will come competitors that provide the same value propositions and customer segments as Apple. Currently Apple is offering a product for people who want to feel technologically advanced and will generally sell it to teenagers and adults who have the iPhone 7 and an above average annual income, but competitors will begin to do the exact same thing specific to their own products. Airpods may be what everyone is talking about right now, but if they want to maintain their popularity Apple must find ways to differentiate their product from the others that are, or are soon to be, on the market.

People often infer that Apple only makes these kind of changes to make money off of the new product they have come out with, and I believe there is some truth to that, but Apple was even smarter this time around. The removal of the headphone jack not only promotes the purchase of their new Airpods, but also of their existing wireless Beats headphones with prices as high as $439.95. I hope that the Chief Operating Officer got a raise because if this takes off, Apple’s revenue from these products will skyrocket and the value of their assets and company will increase.

So do I think this was a smart business decision? The answer is yes. First, taking a look at Apple’s past suggests that with each change that is made customers go through a stage of denial, but ultimately come around and accept the new change. I believe this will be the case with wireless headphones as well. Second, this will not keep many people from purchasing the newest version of the iPhone, so Apple will not lose potential profit from it. Everyone wants the best, most advanced technology and this change will not stop many people from getting that. Lastly, Apple is offering two very profitable “solutions” to having no headphone jack, these being Airpods and Beats. We may wonder about some of the decision Apple makes, but they know exactly what they are doing.

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Bibliography:

• Betters, Elyse. “Apple Made These Wireless Airpods And Lightning Earpods For Iphone 7 – Pocket-Lint”. Pocket-lint.com. N.p., Sept 7, 2016. Web. 30 Sept. 2016. http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/138753-apple-made-these-wireless-airpods-and-lightning-earpods-for-iphone-7
•  Easton, Richard. “Iphone 7 Airpods – What You Need To Know About Apple’s New Wireless Headphones”. TrustedReviews. N.p., Sept 8, 2016. Web. 30 Sept. 2016. http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/iphone-7-airpods-vs-earpods-apple-headphones
• Apple. www.Apple.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.