Will Apple Kill Beats? Probably Not This Year

As shared by The Loop, there is some speculation on whether Apple will end the Beats brand. iMore says Apple should kill it, while 9to5Mac claims to have learned there is no plan to kill it. It started because of a separate rumor that Apple will release over-the-ear headphones under the AirPods brand. Quote from the iMore piece:

If Apple is truly planning to release over-the-ear noise-canceling pair of headphones similar to the Bose 700 has Jon Prosser suggests, it would be incredibly redundant to continue to release Beats as well. The Apple brand is just more valuable to Apple than the Beats brand — plain and simple.

My two cents is that Apple will probably phase out Beats, but not this year. It will be a gradual process over the next 10 years, like how the iPod touch still gets an occasional refresh but otherwise isn’t mentioned. You can’t kill a brand like Beats overnight. Once over-the-ear AirPods come out, and they will, phase one will be complete. There will be an AirPod for each Beats category, because you can’t leave customers hanging without alternatives, thank you very much.

Coronavirus Causing Shortages of Key Apple Products

The availability of a number of Apple products has been hit by the coronavirus outbreak, Bloomberg News reported. Products affected include the iPad Pro, AirPods Pro, and customized Macs.

The iPad Pro tablet is seeing limited availability at stores in major cities in the U.S., Australia and Europe, according to a review of Apple’s website on Monday. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro with 512 gigabytes of storage and no cellular connectivity is sold out at all Apple stores in the Los Angeles area. That model and other versions are sold out at many stores in New York City as well… AirPods Pro earbuds and built-to-order Mac computers are also continuing to show shipping delays, and some Apple Watch Series 3 and Series 5 models are listed as unavailable to buy online. The Watch Series 3 and in-demand AirPods Pro had been constrained even before the coronavirus. The latest iPhones and Apple’s non-Pro iPads are still widely available in the U.S., though some locations in Europe and Australia are showing the iPhone 11 as unavailable.

This Trick Might Save Your AirPods’ Battery Life

Redditor u/smakusdod proposes a trick that could help with your AirPods’ battery life. It involves resetting the AirPods case and draining the batteries of both the AirPods and the case to re-calibrate the battery life measurement system.

I completely reset the AirPods case (holding down the white button on the back for 10+ seconds), and re-paired them with my iPhone. I then completely drained both AirPods down to zero, and the case itself down to zero through normal usage. Then, I put the dead AirPods into the dead case, and charged them both up to 100%.

At some point over the weekend I’ll try this to see what happens. My AirPods haven’t significantly lost battery life, but I have noticed one Pod has a slightly lower maximum charge than the other one.

That Apple Bluetooth Tile Product to be Named 'AirTag'

There’s a 99% probability that Apple’s new Bluetooth product will be named AirTag, according to assets found in iOS 13.2 which was just released today.

A folder within the filesystem for the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system possibly confirms the name “AirTag” for the new device, which will be paired with a user’s iPhone just like AirPods and will allow users to track any item using the Find My app.

I currently have a bet going that AirTag will be released tomorrow.

How Apple Defied Gravity in AirPods Ad

Apple’s new AirPods ad, Bounce, is a typically beautiful, artistic, creative, offering from the company and its ad agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab. AdWeek told the story of how the gravity-defying clip was created.

To achieve the trampoline effect on a sidewalk, the set was crafted six feet above the floor of the soundstage, enabling the talent to bounce deep into the ground for maximum lift. The talent, by the way, is a French actor chosen in part for having trampoline experience—but he’s not an acrobat or professional dancer, as the ad’s creative team wanted a lead who moved in a natural way rather than with otherworldly grace. The ad’s most impressive moment, when the star tumbles off a bench and into a wall behind him, was also achieved with practical effects. The scene was first shot right-side-up, then the set was Ad 90 degrees, allowing the actress in the scene to keep sitting (really lying on her back) while the star fell backward to bounce off what appears to be a wall.

It Turns Out That Science Petition Wasn’t Warning About AirPods

Remember that science petition going around that 250 scientists signed, warning about AirPods and cancer? Turns out it had nothing to do with AirPods.

So rather than finding any link between cancer or other issues in levels of EMF at or below the current, accepted regulations, the scientists involved here were simply asking for more research into to area and suggested that it was probably a good idea to limit human exposure.

Various bloggers picked up the subject and worked to associate it with Apple’s AirPods…without regard for the fact that nothing in the petition even suggested concern about in-ear headphones, Bluetooth, or AirPods.

AirPods 2 Get a Zero out of Ten for Repairability

iFixit is back, this time doing a teardown of the AirPods 2. They remain “disappointingly disposable” and get a 0/10 for repairability.

That said, the construction isn’t entirely unimproved—this set might survive an extra trip through the washing machine. It’s just, we know Apple can do better.

Not really a surprise here.

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