Woo hoo! Upcoming $330 7th Generation 2019 iPad to retain the "courageous" headphone jack

[arlen holder]

Updated $329 iPad to retain Touch ID and headphone jack
o <https://9to5mac.com/2019/03/08/2019-ipad-touch-id-headphone/>

"With Apple sticking to the headphone jack and Touch ID, the overall
case design of the 2019 $329 iPad is also expected to stay the same"

[arlen holder]

On Sat, 9 Mar 2019 05:07:21 -0000 (UTC), arlen holder wrote:

> With Apple sticking to the headphone jack

Words spoken years ago ring as true today on the "courageous" headphone
jack basic functionality, which, by the way, is basic veritable
functionality that exists on over 99.5% of all Android devices!

o No, Apple, killing your headphone jack is not 'courage'
<https://mashable.com/2016/09/07/iphone-headphone-jack-courage/>

"I've been at or watched every Apple keynote and product launch
event since 1998. I was there when they killed the CD drive in the
Macbook Air and the 30-pin connector in the iPhone 5. I've
witnessed the demise of every Macbook charger.
And I've never heard anything as ridiculous emanate from that
stage as I did Wednesday, when marketing chief Phil Schiller
explained why the iPhone 7 would not have a standard 3.5mm
aux cable input, better known as the headphone jack."

"And what has Apple done? It has eradicated the most successful,
most widespread and best-sounding audio standard in the world
in favor of its own proprietary system."

"There is no technological excuse for this. Music does not sound
better over a Lightning cable. Nor does it sound better over
Bluetooth, or the proprietary wireless technology Apple is using
in its AirPods. There's simply more audio information traveling
over a wire than can travel over the air. "

"Say it with me now: wired almost always sounds better than wireless."

"The second most nonsensical thing Schiller said Wednesday?
"It doesn't make sense to keep the jack, because space [inside the
iPhone] is at a premium ... we want stereo speakers, we want
Taptic engines."

"If this is really about what "we" want, why not run a poll: Do you
want your iPhone's home button to vibrate sometimes, or do you
want to be able to plug in pretty much any set of headphones ever
made in the entire world? "

"Talk about one step forward, two steps back. Here we are in 2016,
and if you want the latest and greatest iPhone, you can't own the
best-sounding headphones ĄX unless you also use an expensive,
unwieldy and easy-to-lose dongle. "

"Want to charge your phone? Sorry, you can't listen to it privately
at the same time. Unless you're using inferior wireless phones,
that is. "

*"Apple has retreated into its walled garden*, and
*Apple has built the wall higher.*
*And guess who's paying for that wall? You. "*

*"That's not courage"*

[arlen holder]

On Sat, 9 Mar 2019 13:51:35 -0000 (UTC), arlen holder wrote:

> *"Apple has retreated into its walled garden*, and
> *Apple has built the wall higher.*
> *And guess who's paying for that wall? You. "*
>
> *"That's not courage"*

On the loss of basic HW functionality, what rang true still rings true...

o Apple says it took 'courage' to remove the headphone jack on the iPhone 7
<https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/7/12838024/apple-iphone-7-plus-headphone-jack-removal-courage>

"The reason to move on: courage. The courage to move on and do
something new that betters all of us," he said onstage. Those words
were uttered with a hand-waving grandiosity seemingly at odds with
what some consider an *anti-consumer move*"

"Schiller's comments are representative of the trademark Apple
*arrogance*, indicative of a company culture in which doing what's
logical and consumer-friendly is often conflated with doing what
Apple executives think is best for its own product lines and for the
industry, *standards be damned.*"

I might remind lucky iPad users that the headphone jack is on over 99.5% of
all Android devices, as well it should be, simply because it's basic
hardware functionality for a mobile device.