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Apple AirPods are finally ready to ship

The company got the wireless headphones out by Christmas, but barely.

by Ina Fried
Apple

Apple said Tuesday that it is finally ready to start shipping the AirPods it introduced back in September.

The $159 wireless earbuds are available to order online now with shipments and in-store availability starting later this week. Just how available they will be remains to be seen.

Online orders are already showing a January ship date, so it looks like few folks will be able to get their AirPods in time for Christmas.

Apple originally planned to ship the AirPods in October, but delayed the product saying it needed more time to get things just right.

“We don’t believe in shipping a product before it’s ready, and we need a little more time before AirPods are ready for our customers,” Apple said at the time.

The AirPods, while not necessary to use Apple’s latest iPhones, were seen as a key part of Apple’s reasoning for not including a headphone jack. While Apple does include wired earbuds in the box with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7s, wireless headphones or a dongle are needed to charge the device while also listening to music.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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