Apple CEO Tim Cook Calls AirPods 'a Runaway Success' (cnbc.com)

It turns out the $159 AirPods Bluetooth earphones are selling well, or so CEO Tim Cook would have us believed. Cook dropped by the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday while on vacation, and talked about the AirPods sales. From a report on CNBC: In comments to CNBC, Cook declined to talk specifically on Apple's outlook, but he said it has been a "great holiday." He added that the company's new wireless earbuds, AirPods, are "a runaway success." When asked if more would come into stock, he said Apple's "making them just as fast as we can." AirPods debuted at September's splashy event, but saw shipping delays through most of the fall and finally hit shelves just days before the crucial Christmas shopping rush. The limited shipments were sold quickly -- ship dates are now six weeks out on Apple's website.

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Re:$159 for earbuds

[hey!]

Actually the Apple price point for its mobile products have always been consciously set to position them as "affordable luxuries". What that means I can explain by analogy with the popular disinfectant, "Bactine". Pouring "Bactine" into a wound stings because it has got alcohol in it. However it's not the alcohol that kills the germs, it's the benzalkonium chloride. So why is the alcohol there? Well, when they test marketed a version without the stinging alcohol consumers didn't like it, because they couldn't feel it working.

So the price of an "affordable luxury" is chosen to be low enough to be within reach of most people, but high enough to give you a little sting that tells you that you've treated yourself to something special.