Apple Watch is now bigger than the iPod ever was, but it’s not a cultural phenomenon like AirPods

“The Apple Watch is now bigger than the iPod ever was. As the most popular watch of all time, it’s clear that the watch is a new market success story,” Horace Dediu writes for Asymco. “However, it isn’t a cultural success. It has the ability to signal its presence and to give the wearer a degree of individuality through material and band choice but it is too discreet. It conforms to norms of watch wearing and it is too easy to miss under a sleeve or in a pocket.”
“Not so for AirPods,” Dediu writes. “These things look extremely different. Always white, always in view, pointed and sharp. You can’t miss someone wearing AirPods. They practically scream their presence.”
“As all things distinctive enough, the distinction rubs on the user and that distinction begets new users and new distinction, and so on. So now we have a bona fide cultural phenomenon,” Dediu writes. “I have both my son and parents angling to get these things. I have not seen this universal appeal recently, even for the watch. You have to explain the watch. The AirPods explain themselves.”
New AirPods build on the magical experience customers love delivering 50 percent more talk time, hands-free “Hey Siri” and the option of a new Wireless Charging Case.
 
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MacDailyNews Take: Apple only ships them in white for a reason.
I was on Madison [Avenue in Manhattan] and it was, like, on every block, there was someone with white headphones, and I thought, “Oh, my God, it’s starting to happen.” — Steve Jobs, 2004
Apple iPod ads featured silhouettes with Apple’s iconic white, corded earbuds
 
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Apple’s AirPods quickly went from initial mockery to millennial status symbol – February 11, 2019