Apple's In-Ear Headphones Are Here
Apple hyped the earphones at its Let's Rock conference in September and said they would hit the market in October.
No reason was given for the release delay, but Web site MacBlogz cited anonymous sources who blamed the problem on design quality which was not up to Steve Jobs' standards.
"Apple has been known to completely redevelop products the company deems not up to par, even near the ship date," according to the site. "They would rather move the shipping date back and rework the design rather than bring a sub-par product to market."
Then again, as the site points out, the delay may be a marketing maneuver to create hype before the holidays.
"It's almost like you're experiencing your music for the first time," touts Apple in its online store blurb.
Whatever the case may be, Apple fans can now order the headphones online for $79 with free shipping within seven to 10 days.
Each earpiece contains two separate drivers -- a woofer and tweeter in each earpiece; frequency responses of 5Hz to 21kHz; impedance (at 100Hz): 23 ohms; and sensitivity (at 100Hz): 109 dB SPL/mW.
A control capsule is located on the cable of the right earpiece that includes a microphone and three buttons. In addition to adjusting volume for music and playback for video, users can record voice memos on supported iPod models.
Currently, iPhones are not compatible -- at least yet. So far, the only supported models are: iPod nano (4th generation); iPod classic (120GB); and iPod touch (2nd generation). Audio is supported by all iPod models.