> Well, to me that is entirely backwards. Customers are looking for something, but are denied that thing because companies have other "visions" for them
I don't think that is really fair. If I really needed a headphone jack, I could have got a new phone with one, but one of my requirements which was more important than a headphone jack was price, so it was a trade off I was happy to make. Maybe if you want to stay in the Apple ecosystem you are out of luck, but this is the sort of thing Apple has always done (floppy drive, optical drive, soldered ram, battery). If you want to stick with their ecosystem, you should be willing to follow whatever they decide is best - it should be expected from them. You could argue it is wrong, but from a financial perspective it is most definitely working, and many people are still willing to support them.
On a similar note earlier this year I switched (around the same time as I got the Bluetooth headphones) from an Apple laptop to a Thinkpad laptop. I couldn't justify the price increases and limitations Apple has put in-place in a quest for thinness, and the way MacOS seems to be heading. For nearly half the price of a new Macbook Air (the previous gen), I got a new machine which is more powerful, has better battery life, has more ports, is smaller (in area, not thickness) and lighter. For the work I do, Linux provides a much more friendly developer environment than MacOS.
I wasn't speaking of just Apple though, that desire to "lock in" is very common. It took actual regulation in the EU get get unified charging cables. Customers should be ahead of regulation in protecting their own interests.
> You could argue it is wrong, but from a financial perspective it is most definitely working
By that point you're arguing squarely on behalf of the bank account of the company, the customer is completely removed. They are just someone who "should be willing to follow whatever they decide is best", even if it's just best for the company profits, which in the case of Apple they kinda hoard.
> many people are still willing to support them
If that makes my opinion invalid, by the same token my opinion makes theirs invalid. Since I have my opinion, the fact that people assume the position as a helpless consumer, rather than a equal in a fair transaction, be it with Apple or others, is the problem, not the solution.
> (For me this post is still #6 on the front page)
Yes, that was shortly after my comment, but before that it dropped really quickly, down to page 3.
I don't think that is really fair. If I really needed a headphone jack, I could have got a new phone with one, but one of my requirements which was more important than a headphone jack was price, so it was a trade off I was happy to make. Maybe if you want to stay in the Apple ecosystem you are out of luck, but this is the sort of thing Apple has always done (floppy drive, optical drive, soldered ram, battery). If you want to stick with their ecosystem, you should be willing to follow whatever they decide is best - it should be expected from them. You could argue it is wrong, but from a financial perspective it is most definitely working, and many people are still willing to support them.
On a similar note earlier this year I switched (around the same time as I got the Bluetooth headphones) from an Apple laptop to a Thinkpad laptop. I couldn't justify the price increases and limitations Apple has put in-place in a quest for thinness, and the way MacOS seems to be heading. For nearly half the price of a new Macbook Air (the previous gen), I got a new machine which is more powerful, has better battery life, has more ports, is smaller (in area, not thickness) and lighter. For the work I do, Linux provides a much more friendly developer environment than MacOS.
(For me this post is still #6 on the front page)