There have been numerous articles posted over the past few months talking about the rumor of Apple removing the 3.5mm jack. If you look back at those articles, the numbers of responses are astounding and the vast majority of responses are from people furious about the potential (probably imminent) 3.5mm jack removal.
The 3.5mm jack is a universal standard across laptops, automobiles, desktops, music players, stereos, mobile phones, tablets, even in-seat audio jacks on most passenger airlines. Removing this standard is a complete slap in the face to millions of consumers who have spent a lot of money on high quality headphones, earbuds, speakers, etc. that all use the 3.5mm standard.
I know people love to compare removing the 3.5mm jack to eliminating the old floppy or CD, but those were upgrades to new standards embraced by the entire computer industry as a move forward in technology and convenience.
If removed, Apple will have taken away a reliable open standard, replacing it with their proprietary standard, and I'm confident virtually no other equipment manufacture will ever embrace Lightning (I'm not talking about headset/earbud manufactures, I'm talking about other desktop, laptop, tablet, stereo, phone, automobile, music player, and aircraft manufactures). You are never going to see widespread acceptance of Lightning on other devices.
With this potential bonehead decision Apple does not move us forward, they lock us into a standard they control/own and move us away from the mainstream into a segregated solution that is not even available on Apple’s own computer line ... which coincidently uses the 3.5mm audio jack.
So what might Apple give us in return, maybe they shave a faction of a millimeter (bid deal) from the phone's thickness, and/or maybe we get a second (or better) speaker because they want us to believe we need some kind of so-called “stereo sound”. It’s pathetic!
Give us back the 3.5mm jack and keep your second/improved speaker. We don’t need a so-called stereo in our pockets.
