Hands-free phone operation is awkward. My choices are:

1. Walk around with a BT headset stuck in my ear so it's easy to answer the phone. I had 2 different Jawbones, and SQ was terrible.
2. Walk around with a wire dangling out of my ear. (After failure of 2nd Jawbone, I do that too much now.)
3. Fish the wire or BT headset out of a pocket and shove it into my ear before the phone rolls into VM. (If I'm driving, it's untangle the cord or find the headset after it fell off of wherever I put it.)
4. Answer w/o hands-free and make the person wait while I get my gear working. In California, it's against the law to drive w/o a hands-free kit.

If I have in-ear monitors, I simply unplug from my music source and plug into the phone. No messing with the ears. If they're comfortable phones, I can wear one while driving and leave it attached to the phone while in the car. No BT headset to lose. Can't wear both while driving in California.

Although strange, I'm not unique. There have to be plenty of other users out there who would appreciate combined functions from a nice head set. (I was all set to preorder the UE Super.fi 5 vi's until I got sucked into the Freq & LW threads...)

For some reason, most the manufacturers seem to disagree. Shure has some kits, and UE has three models available with a phone mic. LW doesn't offer it as an option, but they are open to doing a mod on iphone cables. That's about it.

It would be an inventory hassle for the mfgrs because they have to stock right-mic, left-mic and no-mic wiring assemblies, but they should be able to get decent margin on the cables.

The portable mics are small and light weight. While visible, the mics are small enough that they should not look ridiculous while listening to music.

Generally, I view cables as tertiary. In other words, primary impact on sound comes from the recording/playback quality and phones. Secondary impact is more like fit or environment. Tertiary is the cabling. Now, that could be because my gear was never good enough for cables to make a difference...

Is there something inherent in integrating a microphone into a cable that complicates or compromises SQ? Since UE offers the "vi" option on the TF-10, it's not insurmountable. - TF-10vi Link

Cables with mic are an unmet need in the market. Given the number of phones with removable cables and quality phones out there, I can't believe some one would not capitalize on the opportunity. What am I missing?

The point is that IEMs are polyfunctional. People would not like having them limited to one specific purpose. They like using them when jogging, travelling on public transport, cycling, relaxing at home etc. When practising sports the cables are awkward as they are (including microphonics). Additional microphones would only be acceptable if they could be removed, if necessary.

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"Polyfunctional". What a perfect word (even if it is new)! You kinda made my point for me. An unobtrusive mic adds more "poly". Wireless earphones are still in their infancy, and we'll see how well implementation goes. Until wireless matures, we're stuck with cables. Mass-wise, the mics are nothing. Flexibility-wise, they add an inch (2-3 cm) or so of rigidity to one side of the cables.

I think you nailed it with the removable factor. The barriers to entry (for trying & supplying) are much lower with removable cables.

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Edit:
Here's a quick primer on cell phone mics http://www.cell-phones-n-plans.com/2...icrophone.html

If you want a mic plus phone capabilities check this out. I know it's from Skullcandy(flame suit already on) but it allows you to connect a music device plus a phone AND plug in whatever headphones you want.

Jacked Link [SC-JP] : Skullcandy

My W900i Sony Ericssone phone comes with a microphone dongle that has an input for earphones.

As long as more phones come out with dongles like that you don't need a mic on the earphones themselvses.
<--see the mic, the input is the circle top not showing.

I loe my w900i phone I wish SonyErricson would try to do a comeback with its model design.