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This is just silly. First, Steve Jobs would have cut these obsolete interfaces just as ruthlessly as Apple has done so under Tim Cook. Jobs had a long history o

by Bud 8y ago

This is just silly. First, Steve Jobs would have cut these obsolete interfaces just as ruthlessly as Apple has done so under Tim Cook. Jobs had a long history of doing so. Second, this almost certainly wasn't even Tim Cook's call. I don't think Tim tells Jony Ive and the iPhone team which design decisions to make.

tspike 8y ago
Obsolete how?
wwweston 8y ago
Saying Jobs would have cut those is contrary to one important fact: Apple under Jobs did not cut those interfaces. He "would have" later? Why? Surrounding market conditions aren't that different. Bluetooth audio is almost 20 years old. A2DP was available mid 2000s. Jobs certainly wasn't afraid of change but he also seemed to have an appreciation for things that just work, and 1/8" audio jacks & cables have a lot of virtues here. Seems likely that's why they stuck around through his tenure even though he could have put them on the chopping block in favor of wireless as easily as he did floppies and serial ports. And the optical interface... there's a better argument it's recently become obsolete than there is about 1/8" audio, but far from being "just silly" it's a very concrete illustration of integrating a premium feature with niche utility neatly into the overall package. It's one thing that communicated that Apple was interested in using its margins to make sure the product wasn't just an experience, it was a tool that had the right affordances, the right blade on the swiss army knife for one stripe of professional/enthusiast. Maybe a more common denominator approach will serve Apple equally well. Or maybe things like touch bars ultimately won't as meaningfully differentiate Apple products. Time will tell.
- microtherion 8y ago
  > Bluetooth audio is almost 20 years old. A2DP was available mid 2000s. Yes, but for instance NFC, which made pairing within the Apple ecosystem much more attractive, is considerably more recent, as is the processing and charging technology in e.g. the AirPods. > Jobs certainly wasn't afraid of change but he also seemed to have an appreciation for things that just work Like 3.5" floppy drives, or CD-ROM drives?
  - Apocryphon 8y ago
    It's possible that Jobs might have made the same move. And just as possible that he would have been as wrong to do so.
  - wwweston 8y ago
    Those who think 3.5" floppy drives and CD-ROM drives just worked in the same way that 1/8" jacks just work have yet to grasp just works. As for the rest of the airpod tech... inductive charging is old, resonant coupling is roughly contemporary with A2DP, and even Qi-branded resonant coupling is 2010ish. Amenable NFC tech or other means of easy pairing are older. If these were somehow a crucial key to The Future™ that Steve Jobs himself had seen in a vision, there's little reason those couldn't have been out sooner (with Apple's resources, possibly before his death). And all this assumes that for some reason the form headphones take with the airpod is for some reason the primary line for marking the obsolescence of 1/8", which isn't a solid assumption because (a) plenty of people are happy for their application with other devices and (b) for some applications, the prevailing bluetooth profiles are still inadequate even assuming universally adopted airpod tech in all bluetooth audio devices and (c) how far away are we from universally adopted airpod tech? and (d) 1/8" would still be closer to just works.
  - arvinsim 8y ago
    > Like 3.5" floppy drives, or CD-ROM drives? I don't know if you lived through them but they were very unreliable. Floppy drives can suddenly become unusuable for whatever reason, CDs become scratched. Not to mention their limited storage space. USB was miles better. It was the right call. It's the same with the headphone jack. It. just. works.
SBG11 8y ago
Old =/= obsolete
smolder 8y ago
It's not obsolete, they're trying to force it to be. There's lots of high quality analog stuff especially for pros out there with 10+ years of life still in it and Bluetooth is a relatively complicated, expensive, underperforming (latency/fidelity/reliability) alternative. It also raises the barrier to entry to headphone manufacturing meaning we'll have less choice, less competition, and as I hope we all know, that leads to less value for consumers.
walshemj 8y ago
But the phone jack is not obsolete is it

by Bud 8y ago

tspike 8y ago

Obsolete how?

wwweston 8y ago

Saying Jobs would have cut those is contrary to one important fact: Apple under Jobs did not cut those interfaces. He "would have" later? Why? Surrounding market conditions aren't that different. Bluetooth audio is almost 20 years old. A2DP was available mid 2000s. Jobs certainly wasn't afraid of change but he also seemed to have an appreciation for things that just work, and 1/8" audio jacks & cables have a lot of virtues here. Seems likely that's why they stuck around through his tenure even though he could have put them on the chopping block in favor of wireless as easily as he did floppies and serial ports. And the optical interface... there's a better argument it's recently become obsolete than there is about 1/8" audio, but far from being "just silly" it's a very concrete illustration of integrating a premium feature with niche utility neatly into the overall package. It's one thing that communicated that Apple was interested in using its margins to make sure the product wasn't just an experience, it was a tool that had the right affordances, the right blade on the swiss army knife for one stripe of professional/enthusiast. Maybe a more common denominator approach will serve Apple equally well. Or maybe things like touch bars ultimately won't as meaningfully differentiate Apple products. Time will tell.

microtherion 8y ago
> Bluetooth audio is almost 20 years old. A2DP was available mid 2000s. Yes, but for instance NFC, which made pairing within the Apple ecosystem much more attractive, is considerably more recent, as is the processing and charging technology in e.g. the AirPods. > Jobs certainly wasn't afraid of change but he also seemed to have an appreciation for things that just work Like 3.5" floppy drives, or CD-ROM drives?
- Apocryphon 8y ago
  It's possible that Jobs might have made the same move. And just as possible that he would have been as wrong to do so.
- wwweston 8y ago
  Those who think 3.5" floppy drives and CD-ROM drives just worked in the same way that 1/8" jacks just work have yet to grasp just works. As for the rest of the airpod tech... inductive charging is old, resonant coupling is roughly contemporary with A2DP, and even Qi-branded resonant coupling is 2010ish. Amenable NFC tech or other means of easy pairing are older. If these were somehow a crucial key to The Future™ that Steve Jobs himself had seen in a vision, there's little reason those couldn't have been out sooner (with Apple's resources, possibly before his death). And all this assumes that for some reason the form headphones take with the airpod is for some reason the primary line for marking the obsolescence of 1/8", which isn't a solid assumption because (a) plenty of people are happy for their application with other devices and (b) for some applications, the prevailing bluetooth profiles are still inadequate even assuming universally adopted airpod tech in all bluetooth audio devices and (c) how far away are we from universally adopted airpod tech? and (d) 1/8" would still be closer to just works.
- arvinsim 8y ago
  > Like 3.5" floppy drives, or CD-ROM drives? I don't know if you lived through them but they were very unreliable. Floppy drives can suddenly become unusuable for whatever reason, CDs become scratched. Not to mention their limited storage space. USB was miles better. It was the right call. It's the same with the headphone jack. It. just. works.

SBG11 8y ago

Old =/= obsolete

smolder 8y ago

It's not obsolete, they're trying to force it to be. There's lots of high quality analog stuff especially for pros out there with 10+ years of life still in it and Bluetooth is a relatively complicated, expensive, underperforming (latency/fidelity/reliability) alternative. It also raises the barrier to entry to headphone manufacturing meaning we'll have less choice, less competition, and as I hope we all know, that leads to less value for consumers.

walshemj 8y ago

But the phone jack is not obsolete is it