Apple analyst Gene Munster, from his 5 year Apple forecast:
Over the next 10 years, we anticipate that AirPods will be bigger than the Apple Watch as the product evolves from simple wireless headphones to a wearable, augmented audio device. While both AirPods and Apple Watch should continue to grow, we see AirPods contributing about the same amount of revenue as Apple Watch by FY22.
The key is the word augmented. Currently, AirPods are simply a great pair of wireless earpods. But over time, as Siri takes on a larger, more intelligent role in the ecosystem and as Apple moves into AR, the AirPods will have a more central role, acting as a conduit to other devices via more complex gestures and audio commands, and piping augmented audio back into your ears.
Our best guess is that Apple Glasses, an AR-focused wearable, will be released mid FY20. This is based on the significant resources Apple is putting into AR, including ARKit and the recent SensoMotoric Instruments acquisition. We believe Apple see’s the AR future as a combination of the iPhone and some form of a wearable.
Apple Glasses and AirPods are a natural fit.
I don’t own an Apple Watch (yet) but I think that as Apple adds more sensors to the watch the potential medical uses will grow and at some point there’s going to be a “killer app” that will tip the Watch into a must have device for more people. Personally I’d bet on the Watch over AR or VR glasses.
Agreed. The watch is more accessible, but less personal.
If these are glasses you’re expected to wear all the time, Apple will have to sell hundreds (if not thousands) of designs to match peoples tastes. That’s a huge undertaking. (Of course, they could just buy LensCrafters or some other eyeglass chain, but still…)
If you’re not expected to wear them all the time, like those SnapChat glasses, then the watch wins there too since it’s always on (your wrist, that is).
The Watch loses as a screen though and that’s what’s needed for AR. The entire point of glasses would be to have a way t see the AR more transparently without doing the Pokemon Go walk (staring at your phone walking around the world). For that, the Watch is a terrible device.
Both will find their markets, Not sure which will be bigger in unit/dollar terms.
Speaking of a “natural fit”, I can’t wear AirPods. They fall out. I can’t be the only one.
You might look at sleeves (or whatever they might be called) that fit over the airpods to make them grippier in the ears. I found one called EarSkinz and surely there are others. I can’t speak to quality or how well they work as I simply searched; I don’t have any Airpods yet.
I’ve almost always used simple foam-rubber skins for my Earpods. I expect I’ll do the same for the wireless ones when I get them.