“Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak… thinks Apple was right to make the move to using the Lightning port for audio,” James Peckham reports for TechRadar. “Wozniak told TechRadar, ‘Not that many people used it, I never used it. For those who do use it, you can buy a little adaptor dongle.'”
“When we spoke to Wozniak, he was using both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus but owns a number of other iPhone models – including expressing a lot of love for the much-maligned iPhone 5C,” Peckham reports. “Despite previously speaking negatively about the Apple Watch, and its focus on a fashion audience, Wozniak is now a bigger fan of Apple’s wearable. ‘I’ve come to like my Apple Watch more…. I actually forgot to wear it today and I want to use it just for seeing the time, if nothing else. I use it enough in my life for things … I enjoy using it and having it. And when I don’t use it, I don’t even know it’s there.’ Woz also revealed to TechRadar he had already ordered an Apple Watch 2, but hasn’t received it yet.”
“Wozniak also revealed to us that he still to buy Apple tech – despite co-founding the company 40 years ago – as he doesn’t receive free samples,” Peckham reports. “During an onstage panel at the Festival of Marketing in London, Wozniak said, “Steve Jobs sent me iPhones on a couple of occasions without me asking. ‘[But] I would not want to call Apple and ask because they probably would give me one. I like to wait in line when a new product comes out. If I really want it, I think that’s important. Sometimes I’m the first person in line!'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, Apple made the right move. As we wrote last month:
We just realized that we haven’t plugged anything into our iPhones’ headphone jacks since we were rocking iPhone 5s units! (We went Bluetooth via JayBirds around the time we got our iPhone 6 Plus units and the portable speakers and vehicles all use Lightning connectors or Bluetooth).
I see no problem with Apple’s decision. They have always been on the cutting edge, and if the feel that wireless is the future (which many have been saying since at least the late 1990s) then they should stick with it and do what they think will be successful. The people at Apple are the true innovators.
I’m not sure about what’s considered innovation anymore but there’s certainly nothing wrong with removing the standard headphone jack especially if it frees up room inside the device for other useful components. It honestly seems the dongle provided for consumers who use standard heaphones should be quite sufficient. Why do people think that everything is going to stay the same forever? In the tech industry, things are constantly changing because that’s usually the end result of constant R&D.
Motorola removed the headphone jack before Apple did and they didn’t receive the hate and criticism Apple received. What’s the big deal if one company did it and another company followed. Removing the headphone jack simply cannot be considered a deal-breaker on any level when a dongle is provided for free.
Woz doesn’t go to the gym, take a bus, go to school etc. If he did he might have used the headphone port, like millions of other people do.
If you read the whole thing he uses wireless headphones, as millions do… in fact 17% of all headphones are wireless. With apple doing this that number will easily double, then triple, and then become the majority, while Lightning and USB-C will be for backwards digital compatibility for wired components. It’s going to happen, deal with it and move forward into the future with the rest of us.
There is still a “headphone” port.
..and they can still plug in their headphones. There is still a headphone jack on the iPhone 7, and Apple provides the headphones for you PLUS an adapter in case you have the 3.5 jack.
It’s always been a false argument.
I go to the gym. And I listen to music with my Apple watch while it tracks my heart rate. And guess what? It doesn’t have a headphone jack. OMG!!! Amazing!! And neither me nor my wife have missed it our cords at all. Cords are a pain, useless, last century tech. Shut up about it and go use your blackberry (or your grandad’s) at your school, gym, or bus.
Of course it was the right move. But isn’t the dongle Woz mentions included, not to purchase like he says?
Unless you throw it away during the unboxing, like that one sap reviewer who was too cheap to buy a replacement.
Why the heck would a rich guy like Steve Wozniak expect a free iPhone? He could buy a dozen of those puppies quicker than a dozen of his favorite donuts. He doesn’t even have to stand in line. He could easily afford to hire someone to do that for him.
He might think they would give one if he asked because he founded the company, but he doesn’t expect one, hence why he buys them. He buys them himself because he enjoys the process of being with fans of the product and getting a new product.
I think he made quite clear that he does NOT expect anything free from Apple.
Don’t ever let macnificentseven48 be your financial advisor. He does not know how to svae money. Obviously, the more he spends the happier he is until he runs out of other people’s money.
A large number of people just use the provided buds, so they’re fine. People who use third party wired headphones get an adapter. People who use bluetooth still will. The only people who may notice something are people with multiple wired headphones who will either need to buy more adapters or remember to swap them. I think the latter group is probably quite small.
Don’t forget about people using Aux input, in their vehicles.
When I bought my truck i didn’t want to pay an extra ripoff $1000 for the Bluetooth stereo upgrade.
I use the headphone out in my garage to go to a stereo, in my truck to go to a stereo, in my house to go to wired headphones. I’d have to get three adapters.
So, buy bluetooth adapters for these, or spend $20 for a couple extra adapters. Or, don’t get an iPhone 7.
Well, that’s essentially the same scenario as having multiple pairs of headphones. It’s unlikely to be a huge percentage of iPhone owners. You may have to buy a couple of adapters, but if they’re staying in situ they’re unlikely to get lost. It’s just not going to be an issue that is going to be a long standing problem. One generation and people are essentially upgraded.
Why on earth would he need multiple adapters, unless he has multiple iPhones??? Apple gives you the adapter, and you simply leave that adapter plugged into the phone.
I can see that the only excuse for needing more than the bundled adapter would be so that he doesn’t have to carry it with his phone. This is a kind of (in)convenience for which you have to shell out the whopping extra $7 (or $9, if you want original Apple one).
Woz hasn’t been even remotely relevant in decades. His “insight” today is on par with the kids in grade school. Who cares.
Weird he was just saying it’s a mistake to take it out last month😗
No, what he said was “If it’s missing the 3.5 millimeter earphone jack, that’s going to tick off a lot of people,”
He was right. It did. But that doesn’t mean it’s the wrong thing to do and I think including both Lightning buds and an adaptor will suit 95% of people.
I was also unhappy with Apple dropped the SCSI port, but life went on and I’m better off for it.
The SCSI port was the one that I was most glad to consign to history.
When it worked well, it was OK, but when it played up, it was a nightmare and although the concept was relatively simple ( no more than 7 devices daisy-chained, with a terminator on the last device ) fault finding could be tedious and frustrating with certain devices sometimes refusing to work properly when their DIP switches were set to specific addresses.
I still have to use SCSI very occasionally to make or restore archive recordings from and to an old audio editing system and I have a twenty year old Powerbook 1400 that’s still in working order and used to copy those files from it’s weird SCSI port into the 1400 and out via a PCMCIA interface to a compact Flash card, which in turn is then plugged into a card reader on the USB port of a modern Mac.
I love Woz. To the haters I say please do not underestimate his continued enthusiasm for technology. To the people who meet him in line for new product launches I say enjoy 🙂
Woz speaks back and forth again
Reminder: The only serious problem with removing the 3.5mm port from the iPhone is the inability to use wired headphones AND charge the iPhone at the same time.
I do that regularly. When I get an iPhone 7 I’ll also be getting a dongle, as Woz mentioned, that allows both at the same time. MDN previously pointed out one that’s currently available.
Quite often people that use the 3.5mm port are using it for long periods of time (that’s why they are using wired). As I mentioned up above I connect to 3.5mm in my garage/shop to listen to music while working on vehicles etc. I always plug into power at the same time.
Same thing within the vehicle on longer trips.
It’s no different then Apple’s USB C only port on the 12″ MacBook (which ironically has a headphone port). Annoying for a lot of people.
BTW I wouldn’t want to have to get adapters for all my devices and only having one adapter would be annoying as heck.
I am tired of Woz and don’t see that his opinion is worth any more than anyone else’s.