7. Conclusions

The Apple headset for the iPhone is clearly superior to the one from Rivet. The Rivet has a list price of $29.99 (street price from Amazon: $19.99). Apple offers a replacement headset for the iPhone on its website for $29.00. The headset looks exactly like the one that comes with the phone, so at this point, if you lose your iPhone headset, at least until strong competitors emerge, the Apple replacement is your best and smartest buy.

In Rivet’s defense, the company clearly had no idea how the Apple headset would perform or what Apple would charge for a replacement. I’ve looked at their other headsets and feel quite comfortable saying the iPhone headset is one of Rivet’s standard headsets outfitted with a slimmer plug that fits into the recessed headset jack on the iPhone.

Without the Apple headset for comparison, some might find the Rivet product adequate. With the Apple headset, it’s no contest. The caveat is simple for those third party vendors who want to make headsets for the iPhone. Listen to music and phone conversations on the iPhone using its native headset, and then try to duplicate what you hear, keeping the price under $29.00. No one’s going to pay $500 to $600 for an iPhone and then buy an inferior replacement headset when they can get the real thing for a mere $29.00.

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