Removing the headphone jack is an act of pure
confidence from Apple, which is the only company in
tech that can set off a sea changes in the industry by
aggressively dropping various technologies from its
products. Floppy drives, optical drives, its own
proprietary 30-pin iPod connector, flash, even USB —
Apple decides that it’s time to move on, and it has a
massive installed base of customers that love and trust
the company who make it happen. And now it’s
decided that — yikes — the headphone jack is over.
After using the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus for about a week,
it’s clear to me that Apple has forceful, but considered
opinions about how the next generation of phones
should fit into our lives. But it’s also clear that the
iPhone 7 is a transitional step to that vision of the
future, not a complete expression of it.
