Commercial and Current Products

2000’s-  the Earbud 

The first earbuds came from the idea that headphones could either be covering the ear or they could go in the ear canal. This idea came from the original patent of Ernest Mercadiers patent in 1891 of the “bi-telephone” This was essentially a pair of buds that went into canal that blocked outside noise. This idea really was not commercialized until 2001 with the iconic white wired earbuds sold by Apple. This idea was invented by Jonathan Ive who worked for Apple. These earbuds became popular because they were quoted as being “tolerable to use” by reviewers of the product. This new product at the time changed from their original design to what we know now as looking like “tiny hair dryers.” We see this popular style frequently now and is what we know of Apples white wired earbuds. [1]

In 1999 Bluetooth version 1.0 was invented and trademarked. This allowed people to begin to share data and audio between two different devices that had this capability. [2]This then began the idea that mobile phones would also have this bluetooth ability. Without mobile phones with this ability we would never have been able to have the bluetooth headphones. In 2000 mobile phones were able to have this process in them which began the revolution of bluetooth headphones. Leading into 2004 with the first actual bluetooth headphones being sold. The first headphones were not meant for streaming music but rather for high quality phone calls. The first bluetooth headphones according to Olli-Pekka Ahokas was the Nokia HDW-1. [3] This version was developed but later cancelled before going into mass production. This specific model of headphones was basically a prototype to the bluetooth headphones we now know of. The idea of the bluetooth headphones was very crucial to the history of headphones because it shows how different models were chosen and some were trashed. The bluetooth headphones revolutionized headphone use because it allowed people to connect with their mobile phones creating an importance for headphones usage. Without bluetooth technology being created headphones could have became forgotten about but they weren’t. [4]

Beats by Dre is an important step in the history of headphones. The duo of Hip-Hop legend Dr. Dre and his partner Iovine teamed up to start their company in 2006. Dr Dre is a very well known influencer in hip hop field and Jimmie Iovine is a record producer, engineer, and businessman.[5] They were then on a mission to create a specific brand of headphones. The first model of beats headphones came out in 2008 and was the model “Beats by Dre Studio. This model is very iconic and is a household name. [6] An important step in this process was their partnership with a company named Monster in 2007. They ended up breaking their deal with Monster in 2011 which allowed them to then create various different models of headphones and earphones. This was an important step in the process for them because it freed them of any liability to Monster and allowed them to freely create their different ideas.[7] The idea of the beats headphones had a huge impact culturally and speaking from my own personal experiences they were virtually everywhere. In schools and going different places you almost always saw someone with beats headphones on. This created the idea that headphones aren’t just for listening to music or for phone calls but for a greater idea. Culture. Beats headphones impact on American Culture was HUGE. Headphones now seemed to be worn as part of your outfit and were essentially part of who you were. Headphones were a fashion statement and people wanted in. This is the idea of mimetic desire which is essentially “if you have it I want it” this psychological trend is something that was very impactful in beats headphones.[8] The idea that if your friend had these headphones than you had to have them too. This tied together multiple different types of people. Whether you were wearing them to your basketball game or just around school in the hallways, it connected people. Beats brought people together over one common thing: headphones. The duo of Iovine and Dr Dre created a trend that covers the rest of the history of headphones. This then leads us into our next model in the history of headphones timeline.

The same creators of the Beats headphones led us to the creation of the Beats Earbuds. The duo of Dr Dre and Iovine used culture tremendously well for this idea of Earphones. [9]For this it was the release of the Beats Earbuds in 2012. The duo had dropped Monster as their partner and from there went into trying to get celebrities to help them with their commercialization. They were able to get athletes like Lebron James to endorse them as well as Lady Gaga to catch the other sphere of users. They sold their earbuds as a high experience earbud. The background of already having step up on other brands helped them with the release of this product. [10] Because Beats by Dre was already a household name people were more inclined to buy into this product. The evolution of these specific headphones infiltrated the athletic culture of Americans as well. These earbuds became a fad with athletes of all types. They became a staple from the most serious runners to simply weekend warriors. Again these headphones connected people through their ability to share a common interest. These headphones functionality went along with the original Beats by Dre allowing them to become part of the users everyday outfit. They can be seen all across college campuses and throughout the United States.

The Airpod is a type of headphones that is unlike any other. Its impact on American culture more than technology is one of unchartable measures. The airpod was originally released by Apple in 2016 just before christmas. It was then improved in March of 2019 and from then on has been the powerhouse of all earbuds and headphones. The airpod essentially is two buds of the headphone that connects wirelessly to the users phones. The two individual pieces fit into the users ear and can be used to stream music, talk on the phone or many other uses. The Airpod was turned into a meme online that created the publicity that it needed to take off. The joke was “I can’t hear you you’re broke.” This essentially joke online blew up and basically made the want for Airpods even higher. This culturally brought together but also divided many demographics. The users of the airpods come together and the ones who didn’t have them were looked down upon. One of the main pushes for the Airpod came from Apple itself taking the earphone jack out of its phones. This created the want for a bluetooth headphones and Apple filled this void with the Airpod. Because apple was such a common name that people continually use and trust this again led to the desire for Airpods. Airpods were able to connect automatically with Iphones and have many different tools that can only be used with Apple products. The airpod was a creation by apple that apple had already laid out the pavement for and that is why it was able to become a fad so quickly. The Airpod in the history of headphones is the most evolutionized product of all of the prior forms. The ability to have two different earpieces with no wire connection was unlike anything seen before. The Airpod still continues to be able to thrive in this market because of popular US culture and the technological side set up by Apple itself. [11]

Footnotes:

1. Engber, Daniel. “Who Made That Earbud?” The New York Times, May 16, 2014, sec. Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/magazine/who-made-that-earbud.html.
2. Android Authority. “A Quick History of Bluetooth,” March 23, 2018. https://www.androidauthority.com/history-bluetooth-explained-846345/.
3. “Sutori.” Accessed December 2, 2019. https://www.sutori.com/story/the-history-of-bluetooth-headphones–N6tTxcaHeCN9YuGsFXqs52jh.
4. Microsoft Devices Blog. “All Ears! A Pictorial History of Bluetooth Headsets. Part 1,” February 3, 2012. https://blogs.windows.com/devices/2012/02/03/all-ears-a-pictorial-history-of-bluetooth-headsets-part-1/.
5. Discogs. “Jimmy Iovine.” Accessed December 2, 2019. https://api.discogs.com/artists/170807.
6. SoundGuys. “The History of Beats,” August 9, 2017. https://www.soundguys.com/the-history-of-beats-13289/.
7. Los Angeles Times. “A Brief History of Beats, Apple’s $3-Billion Acquisition,” May 29, 2014. https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-apple-beats-brief-history-20140528-story.html.
8. M, Lebreton, Kawa S, Forgeot d’Arc B, Daunizeau J, and Pessiglione M. “Your Goal Is Mine: Unraveling Mimetic Desires in the Human Brain.” The Journal of Neuroscience : The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience 32, no. 21 (2012): 7146–57.
9. SoundGuys. “The History of Beats,” August 9, 2017. https://www.soundguys.com/the-history-of-beats-13289/.
10. “Beats by Dre History: Headphones Idea to Billions in Under 8 Years.” Accessed December 2, 2019. https://lonelybrand.com/blog/beats-by-dre-history-headphones/.
11. https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/09/07/the-surprisingly-long-history-of-the-apple-airpods

Wells, Georgia. “A History of Headphones: How the Technology Has Evolved.” The Wall Street Journal, 8 Sep. 2016. Web. 25 Sep. 2019.

Wells, Georgia. “The History of Headphones.” Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2016, sec. Tech. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-history-of-headphones-1473274924.