
William Gibson’s cyberpunk stories show why Apple is getting rid of cords - walterbell
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2016/09/08/william_gibson_s_cyberpunk_stories_show_why_apple_is_getting_rid_of_cords.html
======
electic
The problem is not that they got rid of the jack, the problem is the solution
they came up with. Okay, so the give out a lightening headphone set with the
new phone.

My options:

\- Listening to music : Now I can listen to music but not charge at the same
time. To accomplish that, Apple says I need a dock. Ok.

\- Need to go to Macbook Pro. Oh crap, need to swap headphones to Macbook Pro.
Ok, Macbook Pro does not have a lightening port. SOL there. What about next
gen, will it have a lightening port? Probably not.

\- Okay, let's go full wireless. Oops. They have their own chip and protocol
there. So no one else will adopt it in mass. Plus, it is 150 dollars to get
this new set of headphones. That is wrong.

In the past when they got rid of stuff, there was a solution that was industry
accepted and gaining in popularity. DVD removal? SSD is there, Wifi is there,
and SD slot is there. All standards other folks have.

For the first time in 9 years, I won't be upgrading my iPhone. Instead of de-
clutting my life and making it easier, it is increasingly full of fraking 40
dollar dongles, hubs, batteries, and multiple accessories of the same type. No
thanks.

~~~
tjl
The AirPods headphones are actually Bluetooth. It's just that they have their
own chip to manage the headphones. That said, I'm not sure if there's any way
to pair the AirPods with anything other than an Apple device. It may be
possible, but the pairing is done using the AirPod case. While there are many
cheaper Bluetooth headphones, the popular earbuds with a comparable battery
life (6 hours) is the Jaybird X2 which is $149. That's the same price. So, it
really comes down to features.

The existing Apple dock has had a headphone jack (and has for several years),
so anyone who has an Apple dock doesn't have to worry about the charge and
listening problem (at least at their desk). There's also a Belkin cable that's
a Y cable for charging and audio (but that's an additional cost).

~~~
Jtsummers
The AirPods can be paired with non-Apple hardware through conventional pairing
processes. They've specifically made it easy to pair with their own hardware
because, well, they control the stack on both sides so it was feasible to do
so.

~~~
tjl
I hadn't heard about the pairing process for non-Apple hardware. To be honest,
I wasn't interested because the EarPods don't fit in my ear well, but I've
heard that the AirPods fit better. There was an article on Macworld's site (I
think it was there) by someone who had issues with the EarPod fit, but
couldn't dislodge the AirPods even when headbanging.

~~~
pawadu
AirPods have not been released yet, how can you and your Macworld source have
reached these conclusions?

I am asking this because I am seeing this pattern after every single Apple
product presentation.

~~~
glenra
Immediately after every Apple product presentation the people attending the
presentation can try out the product in an adjacent "demo area". Which means
there are at least a thousand people who could have tried on the headphones
already, including reporters for most major media.

~~~
pawadu
I have become increasingly more suspicious to these things since the iwatch
launch.

but fair enough, the macword guy probably attended the event and had a few
minutes to test the buds.

~~~
tjl
If you're just looking at fit, a few minutes is enough to test them. They were
tested in the demo area after the event. Sound quality given the noise in the
demo area is one thing you wouldn't really be able to know, however.

I'm unlikely to get a new phone any time soon as my iPhone 5 is fine (aside
from battery life), but I am interested in the AirPods, if I could actually
know how well they fit.

------
mseebach
> Ultimately, then, the disappearance of cords is bound to be a story about
> control. A world without cords may be tidier or more convenient, but it’s
> also one in which we no longer direct the flow of energy, even in passing.
> In Gibson’s 1984, wires and cables were our pipeline to the future. In 2016,
> they’re an increasingly unwelcome shackle to the past. Apple’s ideal world
> is the tomorrow that we’re living in today. It may already be too late to
> jack out.

If the author _actually_ had an idea, he would be talking about wireless
devices _in general_ , and how landlines phones and cabled ethernet are better
because they allow us to direct the flow of energy and because you can hear
the mechanical click as you hang up and leave the Matrix and re-enter the real
world, or some drivel like that (it would be wrong, but at least it would be
an idea).

Instead, he hides behind a pseudo-intellectual semi-conspiratorial (The iPhone
is water resistant because Tim Cook wants to control your mind. True fact.)
prejudice-stroking "literary analysis"-style tirade with zero added substance
to William Gibson's quip, and at least two decades late to make the single
point it doesn't really acknowledges is the only one it could possibly make.

~~~
armitron
He is also _factually wrong_ in what he writes, regarding Neuromancer and
using phone cables to jack in. Then he goes on a tirade about obsolete tech.
It's amusing to see such a degree of cluelessness on display here. I'm
wondering if he even read the book, because it's clearly written in _multiple
places_ that Case was using _gasp_ _fiber optics_.

"The new switch was patched into his Sendai with a thin ribbon of fiber
optics."

------
SocratesV
Why is Apple taking so much flak? They aren't even the first and no strangers
on pulling this kind of move when it messes up with their vision and plans for
hardware.

LeEco's latest smartphones and the new Moto Z all ditched the 3.5mm jack in
favour of USB-C only.

Apple also figured now is a good time to do it and had a good hardware design
reason to do it.

People that have 3.5mm jack only hardware can keep using their current phones,
no one is making them buy the iPhone 7 and even if they do, because it comes
with the adapter they'll still be able to continue using card readers and
such.

As with all technology being phased out in a certain field, at some point
people will have to refresh their peripherals. Backwards compatibility that
compromises their design and vision is usually not something Apple has ever
been concerned: they'll maybe give you workarounds (adapter) or sell you one.

Personally I was hoping they would also just go for USB-C on everything, but
guess they need to justify their investment on the Lightning port's
development and keep control over its function.

Charge and listen to music on headphones? You are doing it "wrong". Not wrong,
just "Apple wrong" \- never did it, but can see how a lot of people do at the
end of the day commuting home.

Clearly Apple wants to push everyone wireless, which kind of makes sense if
you buy into their ecosystem and vision (Macbook, iPad, iPhone, iWatch), since
it allows you to switch device without unplugging anything, but also, in this
case, those wireless earphones might (pure speculation here) be the embryo of
their "Google Glasses", something they can now build upon and experiment.

EDIT: Just came across a 2010 video of Steve Jobs pretty much summing up what
I tried to convey, which is Apple is just being Apple and shows coherence with
what happened with the 3.5mm jack:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65_PmYipnpk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65_PmYipnpk)

~~~
pawadu
Why people were not as upset when Lenovo did this? Actually they were.

But also, this is the nature of Android: if this years offering from Vendor A
doesn't suit me I can always buy from Vendor B-Z ; without loosing my paid
apps and subscriptions.

With iphones, its Apples way or the highway. So Mr. Gibson will whine then
give in and buy the new iphone because he simply doesn't have a choice.

~~~
SocratesV
True, but everyone buying into Apple's App Store (both iOS as well as OS X and
now MacOS) should already know that there is no alternative and that they are
locked in if they want to keep using their purchases.

~~~
pawadu
This is the first thing people complain about when they jump ships, so I would
say it is not very well known to the average joe.

------
jordigh
I wish there was some hope that all of this bad press would just mean that
people won't buy this because people really do want the 3.5mm jack. So sad
that saying that Apple will sell something makes it a fait accompli that we
must obey Apple.

~~~
runn1ng
Truth to be said, Apple's marketshare is failing and Android is growing, with
all the Chinese manufacturers making _pretty fine_ phones. Xiaomi phones are
surprisingly good.

I am not sure if that future, where everything is tracked and sold for Google
ads - and with Chinese weird mix of capitalism and authoritarianism - is
better than Apple-made future, but that's for another debate.

~~~
kbart
_" Chinese manufacturers making pretty fine phones"_

Yes. I bought Chinese smartphone for 130 euros few weeks ago and I can't feel
much difference from premium Android phones. Sure, camera is not so clear,
touchscreen lags sometimes, but it's acceptable for my use case and the fact
that it's 3-4 cheaper than a brand phone with same/similar spec.

~~~
celticninja
Out of interest what did you buy?

My first foray into Chinese phones was the OnePlus One which I was more than
happy with (still am), I then bought a cheap Doogee X5 for about €50 to use on
my commute, which was OK for such a cheap phone, camera was rubbish but I
never used it and the GPS tracking and 4g that I did use was perfect for my
use case.

~~~
kbart
Umi Touch: [http://www.gearbest.com/cell-
phones/pp_348204.html?wid=21](http://www.gearbest.com/cell-
phones/pp_348204.html?wid=21)

I see it's out of stock now and price have increased slightly. BTW, its screen
is surprisingly good.

------
JustSomeNobody
Apple is telling people that if you don't use exclusively Apple products, they
don't want you as a customer anymore.

That's what this boils down to.

------
phodo
This article was not super coherent. Indeed, wireless will give us a tidier
future and will enable new use cases. So airpods are great. As for lighting
cable replacing earphones, I think it's very smart and also opens up
optionality for Apple to introduce things like a VR display in the future
carrying audio, video, control data. Like many things Apple, things are done
across multiple releases after they have reduced technical risk for a feature.
So it's premature to opine too strongly in a new enabling technology / feature
unless you have knowledge of the roadmap.

------
fsiefken
Open standards like 3,5mm audiojacks, microusb, microsd, tethering, removable
batteries in general keep us in some sense grounded and connected to the real
world and less dependable on some virtual world gatekeeper. Cyber track:
X-Dream: We Interface
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BBg6F0WFBs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BBg6F0WFBs)

------
joezydeco
Didn't Gibson also describe wireless throat microphones in his books?

