AirPods Are The Beginning Of Apple’s Audio Augmented Reality Platform
Today
(September 7th, 2016) marks the beginning of a new device platform
centered around AirPods, advanced bluetooth audio and the elimination of
the 3.5mm audio jack. This is also Apple’s first big step into a Voice
First platform centered around Siri.
Although
many will focus on the first take on what AirPods mean, the long view is
quite fascinating, indeed a true paradigm shift.
The Rise Of The Intelligent Headphone
The
“dumb” headphones from the past simply relayed an audio signal from the
primary device and did little more than mute, volume control, pause,
etc. AirPods are intelligent computers in their own right and will
become a new platform as Apple Watch and Apple TV have become. These new
audio platforms will do far more than relay sound, they will augment
sound. Indeed they will ultimately build a foundation for Augmented
Reality via voice powered AI and Siri.
The
idea that Apple would remove the 3.5mm audio jack has a rich history
here on Quora spanning back to 2011 [1] where I presented the
inevitability of this shift to many angry and perhaps hostile otherwise
well informed and insightful people. Like all radical change as I
presented in 2011, like the RS-232 port, floppy disk, DVD player, tiny
keyboards, etc. we forget we even had them at a point sooner than we can
imagine.
Clearly
the 100 year old audio jack has served us well but from almost any
perspective there is little reason to continue with this legacy jack.
From water proofing to a thinned profile there are mechanical
advantages. Additionally, the empty space of the 3.5mm connector, the
space the male plug was taking up, is extremely valuable real estate
that allowed Apple to place the Taptic engine below the new virtual (non
mechanical) home button. These are all good reasons, however there were
bigger reasons to move on.
What Is The Technology Behind AirPods?
With
AirPods, Apple is moving to a platform that will augment reality in a
material way by presenting Siri in a more direct and personal way,
directly in your ears with a simple double tap to the Pod. The instant
on-demand Siri information presented to you throughout the day will
become as valuable as using the touchscreen on an iPhone, allowing even
more effortless access to your calendar, notepad, text, tweets, email
and of course interaction with phone calls and music. With a 5 hour
battery life and a 15 minute quick charge giving a interim 3 hour boost
allowing for virtually all day use with a minor break.
Meet The New Apple Processor The W1
From
a technology perspective Apple has adopted a new method of transmitting
and charging the AirPods based on technology developed by Passif [3]
along with the new W1 chip set.
The
W1 has optimized AI technology not just for presenting high definition
audio but filtering out external noise via the new beamforming
microphone technology. These dual microphones will greatly aid Siri to
discriminating user speech from surrounding conversations and noise.
Apple also created the Voice Accelerometer to localize your voice and
identify when you are speaking.
Apple
added a new Bluetooth pairing system on top of the existing current
Bluetooth specification that allows for instant device pairing simply by
tapping the AirPods to the iPhone. This technology also allows for
instant hand-off to Apple Watch and some macOS computers. This pairing
process is light years ahead of the process and steps needed to
currently pair (and re-pair) devices.
The W1
Chip also uses smart technology to only activate when the built-in
optical sensors and motion accelerometers sense that the AirPods are
placed in the ear, greatly saving on battery life. AirPods will be
available in late October, will sell for $159.00, and come with a
carrying case that also doubles as a charging dock.
Brand Signaling: “I Own This Apple Device”
On
October 23rd, 2001 Steve Jobs demonstrated a device that many thought
was far outside it’s personal computer mission, an “mp3 music player”.
This device was the iPod and presented the infrastructure that the
iPhone was built on. One of the most important aspects of the iPod was
something that companies that sold luxury products and services always
understood, brand signaling [3]. Apple achieved this in a masterful way
by the now iconic “Moon gray”/“Seashell gray”[4] (aka White) headphone
cabling and ear buds.
Apple literally overnight
was able to distinguish uniqueness, exclusivity, quality and brand
communicated by the White headphone cabling and ear buds. Over night
this became a fashion statement. By 2002 the phenomena could be observed
in large cities as people proudly presented iPod ownership via the
brand signaling that was build into something as simple as the color of
the cabling.
By 2003 Susan Alinsangan, a
Chiat/Day art director, came up with a design of the iPod silhouette [5]
commercials. The silhouette advertising campaign featured dark
silhouetted characters against brightly colored backgrounds. The
silhouetted characters dancing in television commercials, backed by
up-beat, energetic music holding iPods. The iPods and earphones appeared
in white to stand out against the colored background and black
silhouettes. They extended the concept and brand signaling to such a
degree, the silhouetted characters themselves have become iconic.
Apple
will continue the tradition of brand signaling with AirPods to a great
effect. They will transmit a brand commitment and potentially a
lifestyle choice that many associate with a notable brand. This may be
one of the reason for the extension of the earbud with the white shaft.
However this extension also accommodates the primary beam forming
microphone.
AirPods: The Road To An Apple Voice First Device
Perhaps
the most notable aspect history will record about the elimination of
the 3.5 mm audio jack and the rise of AirPods will be the inception
point of how AirPods formed the foundation of Apple’s first step into a
Voice First device.
I presented a case for what
I call Voice First in a question that proposed that Voice First systems
like Alexa and Siri are “novelties” [6]. As you can see from the other
answers to the question few agreed with me. However with the release of
AirPods, Apple has signaled the first step in to a Voice First world
centered around an in-ear device.
AirPods Are A New Device Platform
AirPods
are truly self contained computers that soon will have their own apps
primarily centered around the Siri Intent Domains [7] and soon other
innovations. A rich development environment will grow around Siri and
include unique features that only in-ear devices like AirPods can
create. The double tap to activate Siri will over time become one of the
most powerful aspects to AirPods and it’s successors. At some point
this will morph into an entire device platform of its own and ultimately
require less or no tethering to an iOS device or a computer. It all
started with AirPods.
I have asserted that in
the next 10 years 50% of computer interactions will be via Voice, with
AirPods, we are accelerating this journey.
Why are AirPods important? They will begin to change everything we think is a computer faster than most could imagine.
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source: quora
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