Conspiracy theory: Apple got rid of the headphone jack to disrupt it’s competition.
Is Apple trying to disrupt its competitors Square and Tyro by removing the 3.5mm headphone jack?
Or is it doing it to control the accessories market? Other third party companies must pay Apple an undisclosed sum to create new products that use the lightning connector. This would include convertors, charging cables ($38 USD), battery backup cases, and docks.
It also owns the largest headphone company, Beats, and you will now need Bluetooth headphones to listen to the audio and use the microphone from your phone. They will profit from every non Beats lightning-connecting headphones.
When they announced the iPhone 7 with proprietary lightning jack, it co-announced three new Beats headphones which start at $150 USD. The easy to lose Air pods also cost $159 USD. madTECH Computers recommends looking at the ongoing financial costs of supporting the Ecosystem before deciding to purchase.
Cost breakdown (AUD) :
• iPhone 7 Plus 128GB $1419
• iPad Pro 256GB Wi-fi and cellular 12.9” $1649
• Mac Retina with 5K 27” $3694
• Watch 42mm stainless steel case $1029
• TOTAL Cost $7,791
It's very expensive to use their products, but if you can afford it, it would be a reliable technical platform for personal devices. With the update cyclic nature , you are kind of forced into updating every two years. You could trade in the older devices, which would lessen the cost, but you would still be looking at $4000 to $5000 every two years to keep up. Microsoft looks like adopting a leasing program for the Surface Line, so our recommendation at this stage is to keep buying Google / Android phones outright. In Australia, we recommend the Samsung S7 Edge, the Oppo R9, Xiaomi Mi5 or Xiaomi Note 3.
In saying that, it would make for an easy technical lifestyle if you had all of the Apple devices, with the iPhone 7 Plus released in Australia 16 September , iPad, iMac, Airpods, Apple watch and all required accessories. Your lump sum buy in price would be approximately $7,800 AUD, with replacement costs every two years of $6000 minus payment for second hand items. This doesn’t include software licensing or backup solutions.
And what about Square, and other mobile card readers that normally plug into the audio jack on the iphone? Aren’t they competitors to Apple Pay? And just like that their system is obsolete, unless you use a convertor, but it looks ugly and also originates at Apple. of course they would have been coming up with Bluetooth readers as they were aware of the 3.5mm phase out, but it still we be disruptive to them, and clients that can no longer use the Square reader will find it easier to just jump over to Apple Pay.
Apple Pay is a mobile credit card reader that you can load your credit card onto. Apple Pay launched on Tuesday in the US with iOs10 which was released onto iPhones and iPads, and will release onto desktops next week with the launch of Sierra OS. 200,000+ websites plan to feature Apple Pay.
Online retailers expect to see an increase in the amount of online transactions completed because it will be easier to complete the transaction instead of filling out credit card information.
How does it work? After customers seek out a purchase on the Safari browser, there will be an Apple Pay button, just press on that to complete the purchase. For desktops and laptops, the iCloud account on the desktop must be the same as is on the phone. To authenticate your purchase, you will need to fingerprint scan on your phone, or double tap on your Apple watch. Bluetooth must be running for it to work as well.
Reference:
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3119735/mobile-payments/apple-pay-coming-to-200-000-plus-websites-not-just-in-store-or-in-app.html
https://www.thrillist.com/tech/nation/apple-iphone-7-headphone-jack-removal-conspiracy-theory