We are all familiar with wireless earbuds, and the convenience that they give our everyday life. Gone are the days that we must be wired into the device that we are using to listen to music or podcasts or make phone calls. They are especially convenient with phone users who had their audio jack removed and replaced with only one plugin for charging and music listening such as Apple users.
Back in 2015, Onkyo announced its first wireless Bluetooth headphones. They also claimed to be the world’s first truly wireless earbud. (Lucas, 2015) These headphones at the time of release would cost 300 euros. Flash forward to today and you can find wireless headphones from Samsung, Apple, and completely unknown brands. Ranging in price from $10 to over $300. The global wireless earphone market size was valued at USD 2.17 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.8% from 2020 to 2027. (Wireless Earphone Market)
I couldn’t tell you how I first discovered wireless headphones. It probably happened by chance, or I saw others using them. I was stuck on using the apple headphones that came with my phone that you had to plugin. I was a late adopter to the wireless headphones. The thought of having to remember to charge a device to use just put me off. It wasn’t until last year that I found how convenient it was to not be constantly untangling a mess of headphones did I jump on the bandwagon.
After a year of use, I am currently at stage five of confirmation of the adoption process. The only time I go back to wired headphones is when I’ve misplaced my wireless ones or forgot to charge them.
So, if you haven’t jumped on the wireless headphone bandwagon yet, I highly recommend it. Investing in a good, high-quality headphone can be almost life changing especially for those who listen to music a lot or make phone calls frequently. Just remember to charge them.
Avi Richards / Unsplash
Other innovations where I’m an early adopter include video games. I love being the first to jump on a new video game and test it out rather than waiting for others to review it. One video game includes Miscreated, I jumped on that while it was still in it’s beta testing. While I haven’t played it in a while, I would be in the implementation stage. I would love to go back and re-visit the game since it has had many updates done to it since I last played. Hopefully for the better.
Citations
Lucas, Simon. “IFA 2015: Onkyo Launches World’s First Truly Wireless in-Ear Headphones.” What Hi-Fi?, 3 Sept. 2015, www.whathifi.com/us/news/ifa-2015-onkyo-launches-worlds-first-truly-wireless-in-ear-headphones.
“Wireless Earphone Market SIZE, Share, TRENDS Report, 2027.” Grand View Research, June 2020, www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/wireless-earphone-market.
I was also a late adopter of wireless headphones. I didn’t want to have to charge them all the time. Now that I have a pair, I enjoy how compact they are. I still don’t care for the frequency they need to be charged, but that isn’t a dealbreaker. As they get smaller and smaller, I do worry a little about loosing them.
I would say I was an early adopter of them. When I would travel I didn’t want to have a cord all the time to my head phone and it becoming tangled. So I decide to get a pair of wireless headphone, however I still enjoy my wired headphone while I am playing games or something as the like of that.