Most, if not all of the previous tech they abandoned seemed too early at the time. It forced those who were making products for Apple to follow their lead. Apple has always tried to reduce clutter with design, and a lot of that times it means getting rid of something that doesn't seem like it need to be removed, e.g. limited ports, no removable micro sd for iPhone, wireless devices and accessories, removing drives, soldering in laptop parts. There is a population of people that absolutely despise Apple for doing this. This seems like a classic 80/20 situation where the 80% don't have the need for a headphone jack or are willing to use wireless headphones and be fine with that. While the 20% are upset because like many of the replies below people have specific use cases for why they need it.
It is more likely that we will see other manufacturers drop the headphone jack as well because Apple did. Again, most people will be fine with that. Bluetooth headphones and ear pieces have already been around for awhile. You also have to think about Apple's purchase of Beats Audio.
With that said I will concede that I am also a bit bummed about them removing the port now as well, but I have learned that Apple is incredibly stubborn when it comes to listening to their consumers about these decisions, and you just have to abide, or buy something else.
It is more likely that we will see other manufacturers drop the headphone jack as well because Apple did. Again, most people will be fine with that. Bluetooth headphones and ear pieces have already been around for awhile. You also have to think about Apple's purchase of Beats Audio.
With that said I will concede that I am also a bit bummed about them removing the port now as well, but I have learned that Apple is incredibly stubborn when it comes to listening to their consumers about these decisions, and you just have to abide, or buy something else.