And because it was only voluntary, Apple was able to innovate and create the lightning port which worked in either orientation and inspired the adoption of USB-C by the rest of the world
Lightning appeared in 2012. USB-C appeared in 2014.
20 years means we'd apparently still be waiting for another 12 years for USB-C. Hardly helps your argument.
At the office, this was solved by giving me two cables - one for charge and one for data which connect to the DisplayPort.
The only thing as painful is the box of unlabelled hdmi cables I have that all works to varying degrees.
I think it's a reasonable possibility that we would all still be waiting for dual orientation if this mandate had been in place back then.
Dual orientation vs carrying two sets of dongles & cables isn't a net win either, so don't think the innovation argument sticks either.