
Ask HN: Apple's lightning headphone jack. What's the game plan here? - spark3k
Can someone explain to me how Apple is going to consolidate this lightning headphone jack situation on the iPhone 7 and its line of products going forward? How is a proprietary jack going to be prevalent on devices from other manufacturers and how are they going to motivate the purchase of 3rd party headphones with lightning if they&#x27;re only going to work with Apple products? Why did they not go with USB-C? Why are they not selling a lightning female to headphone jack adapter for the majority of Macs already out there? Does Apple believe that the way forward is wireless or bust?
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CyberFonic
Bluetooth headphones are more likely to be the long-term solution, no cord to
damage, get tangled, etc. And BT is a widely implemented standard.

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qbrass
Bluetooth headphones got a bad rep because they were using he low quality
headset protocol intended for talking over the phone instead of AADP which
supports higher quality audio.

Between Bluetooth's licensing, AADP's DRM, and manufacturers churning out a
bunch of headphones using widely available headset chipsets. It set things
back a bit.

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konart
>wireless or bust

Pretty much yes. And to be honest - Apple wasn't the first one to remove mini-
jack from their phone either.

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spark3k
Do you think that they'll never add lightning to Macs?

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konart
What for? I can't remember when was the last time I paired my phone with a
computer via cable.

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Ezhik
The goal is to go completely wireless.

Apple doesn't care about other manufacturers.

