After long delay Apple's AirPods are finally on sale
Apple's odd-looking wireless earbuds, aptly called AirPods are finally for sale and shipping now.
The company announced the availability of the $159 in-ear audio devices on Tuesday with a shipping date of Dec. 22, which means they could arrive just-in-time for Christmas. (Update 12/13 2:16 p.m. ET: Apple now lists the ship time as "four weeks.")
Apple introduced the wireless, Bluetooth, touch-sensitive ear buds in September, but then missed the October ship date for unspecified reasons.
Apple's silence on the launch date, as well as possible delays of some other W1-powered earbuds left many wondering if there's some sort of unresolved issue with the AirPods.
The AirPods look a lot like a larger wireless version of the traditional EarPods Apple introduced four years ago. They can play continuously for about 5 hours on a single charge and the floss-holder-style case holds roughly 24 hours of additional charge. While designed to work with the iPhone, AirPods also work as Bluetooth audio gear for non-Apple products.
The potentially hot holiday item has already garnered some very good and some critical reviews. The latter mostly because some people could not get over how the AirPods looked and simply couldn't believe that they wouldn't fall out of your ears. A bigger concern for some was the possibility of losing one of the AirPods because they're no longer tethered to a wire. Of course, numerous companies sprung up with tethering solutions to "save" your AirPods.
Now, it seems, consumers may finally get to try some of those jury rigged systems out.
Additional reporting by Stan Schroeder
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