Is it a fair comparison? I don’t know, you tell me, on the basis of the actual facts. When the iMac was released without a floppy drive in 1998, it was launched with a CD-ROM (and, only in the DV models, with a DVD-ROM) drive, which meant it was not able to write to CDs or DVDs.

Flash drives were first released in 2000.

So... were “better alternatives” available? Yes. Were they incorporated onto the machine? No.

The idea was that almost all output would occur through the network, and that was a fairly prescient idea. If you wanted writable media, you had to add it externally — via a USB 1.1 connection, if memory serves (though maybe the machine also had a FireWire port, I can’t quite remember).

The point was that the floppy drive wasn’t removed because they replaced it with “better alternatives” on the machine, the point was that they thought that obsolete media had no place on modern almost-turn-of-the-millennium platforms.

I’d argue that there’s a pretty good parallel here.

I can pair my bluetooth headphones to different devices with the click of a button (eg. when leaving the desk etc). I can be connected to my phone and the Laptop at the same time. It's very convenient when making phone calls on the go or listening to navigation on the bike without messing with cables. I am not an Audiophile but have two decent pairs of Bluetooth headphones with subjectively great audio quality. For me personally, it is a huge step up in convenience, i would never go back to have another wire on the desk or under my clothes.

That analogy doesn't really work tho. No one is complaining about getting keyless entry (almost all phone had Bluetooth for the past decade or so, no one minded), just the removal of physical keys (the 3.5mm jack).

While I'm not an expert on cars, most cars that have keyless entry that I've came across DO come with physical key, either separately, hidden inside the key fob, or the whole key fob works as a physical key as well. The only exception I know of is Tesla, but even they give you 2 keycards and you can purchase more. The reason is basically the same the reason I want headphone jacks back - fobs/Bluetooth can run out of battery, they are expansive to replace so you can't have multiple of them lying around.

While I do use the wireless option most of the time. I want the wired option as a backup.

Additionally, wired better functionality than the wireless option in this case - FM radio (not relevant for iPhones, but it does for Android), better audio quality, less battery consumption, ability to charge the phone while in use - features I personally am not very attached to but can see why they might be important for other people.