AirPods Release Delayed ⇥ techcrunch.com

Matthew Panzarino, TechCrunch:

“The early response to AirPods has been incredible. We don’t believe in shipping a product before it’s ready, and we need a little more time before AirPods are ready for our customers,” an Apple spokesperson said to TechCrunch.

Apple did not say whether hardware or software updates are what is at the heart of the delay so I couldn’t conjecture which. My experiences with the AirPods have been very positive this far but the pre production units that were given out to press are not without their foibles and bugs. I have seen a variety of small software/hardware interaction issues that have caused some frustration – but have taken them in stride because they are not final products.

What a pisser.

Such is the danger of announcing products before they’re ready, something which has happened a couple of times in the past two years: the Retina iMac in 2014, and now the AirPods. You could also argue that launching the iPhone 7 Plus without its standout Portrait mode feature could constitute a “delay” of sorts.

Back in 2012, Apple delayed the release of iTunes 11 for about a month. When it was released, though, it was one of the best versions of iTunes in a long time. Postponing a product launch sucks, but it’s better that it’s released right instead of quickly.

No word on whether any Beats models are also being delayed, though their release dates have always been a more nebulous “this autumn”.

Update: The Beats Solo and Powerbeats models with W1 chips have been shipping for a while, apparently — thanks Erik. The BeatsX in-ear headphones — the ones I was looking at — haven’t been released yet.