£220 'for a cut-up sock' — Apples's new iPhone Pocket ridiculed online

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn97ndgpnq7o

by Lyngbakr • 8 months ago

74 59 8 months ago

lyxsus• 8 months ago

Why not? It may be stupid, but I'm buying it if material feels right to my skin.

Tangentially related: If only there were shirts and pants without stitching or seams of any kind. I murder clothing tags with obsessive vengeance. Microfiber, wool, and corduroy can burn in the ninth ring of the fiery underworld.

WheatMillington• 8 months ago

I predict it will sell very well.

broodbucket3• 8 months ago

Maybe this is a new low for the more regular consumer facing stuff, but this is hardly new for Apple. The $1000 wheels come to mind.

kotaKat• 8 months ago

Or the fugly Beats Pill... things.

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/08/18/beats-pill-vear-returns...

JimDabell2• 8 months ago

Apple were also widely ridiculed for the iPad (just a big iPhone), AirPods (everybody who wears them looks goofy), and Apple Watch (ugly square).

ghaff2• 8 months ago

Apple Watch also that no one not a boomer wears watches any longer.

broodbucket3• 8 months ago

Screenshot this when the iPhone Pocket is the hot new product everyone must buy, but somehow I don't think these are even remotely in the same category. I don't think Ballmer laughing at the iPhone's price is in the same category as this or the wheels, somehow. Maybe I'm just not enough of a thought leader.

hyperhello• 8 months ago

Let's consider strategy. There are two variables: P, the price, and Q, the quantity. Of course by reducing P you increase Q, and vice versa, so besides being dependent on each other, they have an inverse relationship. At some pair, PQ is maximized.

Apple knows this. So of course they did not set the price P to maximize Q. They set the price P to maximize PQ.

The question should be why P maximizes PQ. I submit that it is because of dopey articles that create a luxury effect around the product. I believe that if necessary, Apple would (and may even already) write and publish these articles themselves.

nyx• 8 months ago

I think that inflating the perceived value of the good beyond rationality is one of the main objectives of marketing.

ideasphere• 8 months ago

The iPod Sock was 2004. Fashion has always loved the 20 Year Cycle!

jmpeax• 8 months ago

That was released as a joke. Twenty years later and no longer released as a joke, Apple is showing they are still in touch with the sensibilities of the modern Apple customer.

boxedemp• 8 months ago

It's difficult not to be somewhat impressed by Apples ability to build a luxury brand with such loyal customers.

My technical brain say "who would want that" but my business brain says "maybe I should buy more AAPL"

zombot2• 8 months ago

Reality has progressed, you can't distinguish it from satire any more.

digitcatphd• 8 months ago

They will seed in a few dozen influencers and there will be lines out the door

Waterluvian2• 8 months ago

People make irrational purchases all the time and I don't really see a problem with that. What makes me wince is when people are trying to rationalize their irrational purchases, especially with strangers. Or when strangers seek to make them feel silly or bad about it.

programjames3• 8 months ago

I see a problem with it. It

(1) makes companies market (lie) more aggressively, because it ends up working out.

(2) makes prices irrational, because if a bunch of stupid people will buy your shit product, why would you care about the 1% who actually do their research?

Waterluvian2• 8 months ago

(1) But that's how commerce works. Does a product sell? Okay sell it more.

(2) People who "do their research" aren't entitled to anything. Maybe they just won't buy it? Then it's not for them. I don't understand what "makes prices irrational" would even mean in this context. The right price is whatever maximizes P * Q.

vlovich123• 8 months ago

My hypothesis is that irrationality is economically inefficient at a macro scale; dollars flowing through manufactured irrational purchases get centralized into Apple’s coffers to be directed via their inefficient centralized decision making.

This hypothesis of course may be false - maybe Apple is better suited to take those irrational dollars and deploy them more rationally.

programjames3• 8 months ago

I think the issue with the irrationality is that it isn't random. If some people made a mistake 20% of the time, completely randomly, when deciding between two products, it doesn't matter too much, and the dollars flow to the person who trembles less. However, humans can be exploited to make more mistakes. Gambling companies are a clear example, but I think run-of-the-mill advertising optimizes to be exploitative more than informative as well. Thus, all the dollars get sucked in by people who are actively anti-social, instead of those that offer a better product or make fewer mistakes.

abtinf• 8 months ago

[flagged]

tom_• 8 months ago

Because clickbait gets clicks! That's what makes it clickbait, rather than just being some nonsense nobody clicks on.

Flag it if you hate it.

keyle• 8 months ago

Because this 220 pounds for a cut-up sock article resonates with the HN community?

bc569a80a344f9c• 8 months ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45885813

Because this place loves outrage just as much as any other community. And it’s no fun to make fun of others in a thread that gets flagged and hidden.

tomhow• 8 months ago

HN has systems to prevent voting rings. Yes, sometimes clickbait makes it to the front page here. Sometimes people just gonna to be baited, even on HN. But flags won out on this one and it spent only an hour on the front page.

Zealotux• 8 months ago

That kind of Apple product is always ridiculed online by people who obviously never stepped into an Apple Store.

arjie3• 8 months ago

When the iPad came out in 2010, online commenters also ridiculed it. The jokes were so repetitive that people complained about them[0]

/r/technology is sadly not available from that day but the Internet was full of the same few jokes:

    iPad?! More like maxipad amirite?

    iPad? So they glued 4 iPod Touches together?

    Lol, Apple making the same thing others already made but worse?!

Sadly, /r/technology on the day of the Airpods release is also missing. But I was able to find some threads on it soon after[1]

The thing of greatest value to most "netizens" (haha) is ridicule. They love dunking on stuff. In fact, even today if you go to reddit's front page you will almost certainly see a post from /r/clevercomebacks or /r/murderedbywords or so on and so forth.

I don't blame them. When I was young, I too found this enjoyable for reasons that seem so alien to me today I cannot even comprehend why I did it. I, a Linux using child, called the IE and Windows users "Microserfs" in moments of great wit. Perhaps pg was right in that dunking is adaptive for those primarily seeking engagement[2]

That's not to say that anyone is wrong or right about whether some product is good. I thought the iPhone sock was some kind of joke release, but I've definitely passed the point where I know what appeals to the kids (six-seven skibidi). It's just that a gauge that always reads 1.0 on a scale from 0.0 to 1.0 is not a gauge that you can use diagnostically.

0: https://www.reddit.com/r/self/comments/auwq1/im_already_tire...

1: https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/51r158/no_apple...

2: https://x.com/paulg/status/1659156372427087874?s=20

cosmicgadget• 8 months ago

A thing about the internet: if it makes people laugh it will be repeated many, many times.

The ipad jokes were about its name, not the product itself. See also the Nintendo Wii.

arjie3• 8 months ago

Indeed. But the jokes about 4 iPod Touches glued together were also repeated many many times and that is about the product itself.

Online ridicule is meaningless. People ridicule everything that goes on to be successful. They also ridicule everything that goes on to fail.

tapete2• 8 months ago

/r/technology is sadly not available from that day

Of course it is: https://web.archive.org/web/20100505194005/https://reddit.co...

There is even an iPad ad. But no submissions about the iPad though.

arjie3• 8 months ago

I didn't mean "from that era". I meant literally "from that day". As in, the day the Apple iPad was announced https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2010/01/27Apple-Launches-iPad...

The announcement post had a bunch of unhinged comments about how it was a garbage product.

Ah ha, this was hard to find, but here's a post from that day: https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/auw6b/the_ipad_...

Haha, this is great. And you can tell that with 2400 points that was going to be at the tippy-top of things considering most days the top few posts have under 1k points back then on reddit.com https://web.archive.org/web/20100202213044/http://www.reddit...

I knew I remembered it right! The comments are artwork. Explaining how it would be so much better if it had a lid and a keyboard. Oh my sides. I looooooove it.

brailsafe• 8 months ago

BBC trying to make a couple extra bucks with this ad after that oopsy with Trump. Coverage is coverage, veiled by mockery or not.

To people with bad taste who buy stupid garbage for thousands, such as any of the hideous big shoes of the last decade adorned with a fancy label, this is already on order.

Can't wait to hear the ATP hosts spend 45 min "not" glazing this thing like they do with every iPhone case

Ultimately, it's a fashion thing, it'll sell, I can't blame them for putting it out there, but I'd definitely wonder about any friends buying it

IlikeKitties• 8 months ago

Fact: Most Hotels provide dedicated chairs for buyers of this product.

onewheeltom• 8 months ago

I remember when Apple was mocked over iPad.

bikeshaving• 8 months ago

I don’t think people here understand the pricing for this market category. This is not a phone case or a container, it is a handbag/shoulder bag, which can go for $100-500+ (do not underestimate the long tail for this market). The prominent display of Issey Miyake branding is indicative that this is a foray into fashion. Whether it looks good, or whether the Apple Pocket will be fashionable, is an open question, but it would be stupid and brand damaging for Apple to price this item lower.

weddpros• 8 months ago

$1465: That's what a nylon+paper bag from Issey Miyake costs. Then the price of this cut-up sock makes sense: it's not an iPhone accessory, it's a luxury fashion item.

https://www.ssense.com/en-th/women/product/issey-miyake/whit...

NetOpWibby2• 8 months ago

I used to love browsing SSENSE, trying to figure out fashion. I still don’t get it.

foofoo12• 8 months ago

People understand exactly, hence the fuss. Someone finally yelled loud enough that the emperor has no clothes. People are shocked.

It isn't a handbag. It isn't a shoulder bag. It doesn't look good. I won't be fashionable. It isn't a open question. It's a sock.

jampa• 8 months ago

Apple seems to be running out of steam. Xiaomi, "the Apple clone," is now releasing cars and XR devices. Meanwhile, it has been a while since Apple released a new product line. The last one was the Apple Vision Pro. With Apple Intelligence, they have shown that they can't "think different" anymore.

Sure, Apple will remain a trillion-dollar company for a long time, partly because its competition keeps shooting itself in the foot. Windows and Android are hostile towards power users and bloat the system with pre-installed apps, and they are both stepping on the gas.

But the real question is: how long can brand loyalty alone sustain the hype of new Apple products? And when will Apple stop being considered a "growth" company?

dmix2• 8 months ago

HN users will complain when a company tries to be all-consuming and unfocused then others deride them as uninspired when they are only focusing on a core business (which in this case still makes Apple endless amounts of money).

This is just some high fashion accessory they release, like a clothing company selling wallets on the side. It's not a big deal.

seec• 8 months ago

Yep, Apple has lost its way. Looking at the release of the latest OnePlus 15, the only reason to keep going with an iPhone is basically ecosystem lockin.

In my opinion they are losing on all front but the chips, and those have become of secondary importance in smartphone and about to get heated competition in laptops.

In the short term, Apple can work on their pricing, considering their large margins they have a lot of runway, but they need to find something to keep being the top dog.

ASalazarMX• 8 months ago

Apple will remain a trillion-dollar company for a long time, partly because its competition keeps shooting itself in the foot

You must mean the competition was driven away. Apple and Google play a a dance that protects their profits, but Chinese companies didn't play by the same rules and were becoming too disruptive.

dmix2• 8 months ago

The general public always mock companies who market to luxury markets, but that doesn't mean it's a bad business to be in or customers won't flock to it. This is nothing new.

julianlam• 8 months ago

... or wait a couple weeks and get the identical item from AliExpress for £2.20

jacquesm• 8 months ago

And for sure people will buy it. I don't think there is a price point where some people would not buy it. Fashion doesn't make sense, it never has.

There is a great joke about this:

A woman rushes into Yves St. Laurent's studio.

"Oh Yves!" she cries, "you've got to help me, I'm in a panic, I have this gala coming up and I have no hat to wear"

Calmly, Yves walks to the nearest table, picks up some rolls of ribbon and starts draping them around the woman's head, and in 10 minutes flat he has made this fantastic creation.

She looks in the mirrow "Oh, Yves, you've saved me, how much do I owe you?"

He says "make it 2500 euros"

She starts yelling "2500 euros??? are you mad? for a bunch of ribbon?"

Calmly, Yves starts to unwind the ribbons spooling them up as he goes and when he's done he hands the woman the ribbons. "The ribbons, you can have for free."

pdpi• 8 months ago

The fashion version of the old "stick of chalk: $1. Knowing where to draw the cross: $1000" story.

NetOpWibby2• 8 months ago

I love this

ChrisArchitect• 8 months ago

More discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45885813

hackernewsdhsu• 8 months ago

People are so dumb! But, Apple has to make up for producing trash products and having to pay Google a cool billion a year cause their "Intelligence" is as dumb as their customers.

burnt-resistor2• 8 months ago

People can either immaturely complain fruitlessly or deal with the human condition and accept fashion is important to some, perhaps by profiting from the creation of fashionable novelty the market desires.

£220 'for a cut-up sock' — Apples's new iPhone Pocket ridiculed online

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