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Comment by ctdonath | Hacker News Reader

We've heard the same line when Apple ejected the 5.25" floppy, 3.5" floppy, Centronix parallel port, RS232 serial port, FireWire, and a whole bunch of other "universal demand" connectors. I really want to say this one is more awkward than others...but it's not. We've gone thru dongle & wireless solutions before, and came out better for it. Bluetooth headphone sales are about to exceed wired headphone sales. And Apple still sells the iPhone 6s & SE with 3.5mm jacks.

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"We've heard the same line when Apple ejected the 5.25" floppy, 3.5" floppy, Centronix parallel port, RS232 serial port, FireWire, and a whole bunch of other "universal demand" connectors."

All these tech were already obsolete by the time Apple got rid of them; 3.5 mm jack is not such case. I'm not using Apple products, but if I would, I'd be mad that I can't use my headphones anymore and must buy new ones that doesn't provide much/any benefit.

There is an adapter included. While certainly inconvenient, it's still a far way off of »I cannot use my headphones anymore and have to buy new ones«.

There's also RSR232 <> USB adapter, but we don't say that modern laptops have RS232 and that's not the point anyway.

We don't say modern laptops have RS232, but we also don't say »Gee, I bought a new laptop and suddenly cannot use this serial device anymore because there is no way of attaching it to the laptop« (despite the fact that in this hypothetical scenario the laptop comes with a suitable adapter that makes everything work).

> I'm not using Apple products, but if I would, I'd be mad that I can't use my headphones anymore and must buy new ones that doesn't provide much/any benefit.

You still can. They even include an adapter in the box. What more can you ask?

To charge the device while using the audio output? That my mother can continue to use her card swipe reader for her small hair salon? I'm not sure what it's like to have an imagination that cannot conceive even one very common use case where this adapter concept falls short.

This dismissiveness is the reason we need influential voices to speak for the user in the design process.

You're not wrong about that. But your mom's Stripe reader will still work. It's just a microphone. The adapter will support it. The concern over charging is merited, but it will not be long before a dual adapter hits the market.

I believe that reliance on the hypothetical arrival of adapters is bad design. Most especially in the case of those adapters relying on a single proprietary connection standard that has the potential to change or deny compatibility in software at the will of the vendor.

Basic dual adapter already hit the market yesterday:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/belkin-introduces-li...

I strongly dislike this direction of Apple's design, seen also in the new MacBooks. You ask, "What is the point of doing away with all of the ports and support electronics if you need an big, ugly, cumbersome adapter to make the device useful again?" and in response hear judgmental sneers that you aren't their target customer anymore, you power user.

But I guess that's par for course for the consumers that clad their fantastically stylish sci-fi pocket supercomputer marvels of manufacturing in neon Croc-rubber.

Why include things that take up space, weight, and cost, things which most users won't use, when users seem to most want less space, weight, and cost?

Users have gone wireless on nearly everything else, and are about to buy more wireless headphones than wired. The dongle is just an interim fix until you switch other devices to matching wireless; we've done it many times before, and we'll do it again.

Users that want the thinnest phone possible so they can wrap it in a Fisher Price box.

Users that want cheaper phones so they can pump more money into the accessory ecosystem the functionality back.

You have fun charging 2 or 3 things every few hours and having horrible device interop or none at all with your headphones and other accessories. I'll keep my headphones.

The basic Apple dock also has a headphone jack. So, if you have one at your desk you can charge and listen at the same time. It's been this way for years.

Unlike all of those technologies, analog audio is basically a solved problem. You can plug decades old headphones into a modern smartphone, or modern headphones into an ancient transistor radio, and it all Just Works. It was a beautiful triumph of engineering, some small refuge of permanence in this age of planned obsolesce and change for the sake of change.

The real goals behind the removal of the headphone jack are DRM, extracting more money out of their peripheral industry, and the chance to make another kooky fashion statement.

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