Contrary to popular belief amongst many on this forum, Apple will NOT be killing the optical disk anytime soon. They can remove them from ALL of their machines and even cease production of external SuperDrives, but the optical disk is far too ubiqitous and multi-purposed (unlike the floppy, which had only one purpose) to be "killed" by Apple.
And as long as their is a USB or Thunderbolt port on Apple machines, there will be many, many people using said optical disks with their Macs for many, many years to come.
Here are some examples:
1. CDs, like vinyl, are going nowhere for many, many years to come. When I go see a local indie rock band or am impressed by an opening act, they can do one of two things at their merch table: A) sell me a CD (probably the cheapest viable option for them) or a piece of vinyl (preferably with a digital download) right there on the spot while the impact of their music is fresh in my mind (they get $5-$20 from me)... or B) tell me that their music is "available online", in which case I will go home and in all likelihood forget to purchase their music, and they get NO MONEY from me. iTMS is great, but if you go to or play shows, that's just how it is. I don't see this changing due to anything Apple does.
(Also, I should mention, the first thing I do with my new CD or vinyl w/ download code is import into iTunes).
Also, many people I know still burn "mix CDs" for each other. You can laugh, but it happens. =)
2. No one I know is preparing to toss their DVD collection anytime soon, if ever. Very few geeks (sorry, you are geeks... i mean it in a good way) rip DVDs to their computers (whereas many, but not all, people I know rip their CDs). DVD sales, DVD players, etc. will go on for years, regardless of Apple.
3. Many I know are finally starting to migrate to Blu-Rays. Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, etc. haven't killed the Blu-Ray yet, and I don't think they are ready to do so anytime soon.
4. Backing things up to DVD still makes a lot of sense in many cases, as long as it isn't your only method of back-up. Online back-up? Awesome. I do love DropBox. But, Ummm... who moved my iDisk??? (Gimme a break). That was a dick move, Apple. Also, burning someone a DVD or Blu of a wedding still has that "keepsake" factor. In many instances, there's a lot to be said for having a hard, non-erasable copy. I'm not sure providing a download link or handing someone a thumb drive is quite the same thing.
5. I'd also be very surprised if the major video game console makers ditch optical disks anytime soon.
If anything, Apple will kill optical disks for distribution of Mac software. Which is fine. But kill the "optical disk"...? Please. The floppy never really penetrated beyond distribution of computer software, as the optical disk has. So the comparison is moot.
I'm sure this post will get voted negative, and that many (some valid) exceptions to my examples will be explained. Nonetheless, I'll bet in 10 years the optical disk is still around, and plentiful, for at least some of the above applications.
EDIT: ooops, sorry that rant was kinda.... long... sorry. I know it's a little off-topic, but these MBA/Air Pro rumors always turn into "Apple is gonna kill the optical disk!" rallies. So...... there ya go.
