Making them stick out visibly from the sides of people's heads was absolutely a design choice so that people could be "seen" with the product. Apple is very bi

Making them stick out visibly from the sides of people's heads was absolutely a design choice so that people could be "seen" with the product. Apple is very big on being a status symbol which is why they put a giant shiny (at one point glowing) logo on their laptops and why they spent a lot of money trying to convince iphone users to not use a case which would hide the logo.