Yet another reason I hate Apple

I've never made a secret of the fact that I hate Apple for a wide variety of reasons.  Most of it comes down to Apple's obsession with obscene levels of profits.  Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with making money.  That is the incentive that drives almost all advancements.  But when a company takes this too far, it interferes with the customer experience and can ultimately drive away many potential customers.

One way Apple attempts to squeeze extra profits out of its customers is by using proprietary technology that either prevents or creates disincentives to use third party products.  One obvious example of this is the charging cable.  When my Android needs a new charging cable, I can pick up a micro USB cable just about anywhere for about $1.  I can also share cables between my phone and a half dozen other devices I regularly use.  When my iPhone needs a new cable, I can expect to pay $10-$20 for a new charger that does pretty much the same thing and won't work with any of my other devices.

Now there are rumors that the next iPhone will do away with the 3.5 mm jack for headsets.  This has been a standard for decades used by all sorts of devices.  It lets me connect my phone to my car stereo, home stereo, any one of a dozen headphone or earplugs, etc.  Apple simply hates such interactivity.  It cuts down on the number of Apple branded accessories that customers must buy.

I saw this change coming the day Apple announced its acquisition of Beats Headphones.  The only good reason for overpaying for that company, which makes a well hyped but technically inferior speakers and headphones, is to guarantee an acceptable headset that can only be used with Apple products (iPhone, iPad, Mac).  This will limit the options that Apple users have in choices of speakers.  It will also mean Beats will start creating "Apple exclusive" speakers and headsets that can only be used with Apple devices.  In short, it cuts down on consumer choice.  You must either go "all in" with Apple, or avoid the Apple ecosystem entirely.  I will definitely choose the latter.  I much prefer Bose to anything made by Beats.

There will likely be adapters or other work around options to bypass this Apple-created road block.  But this just seems so unnecessary to me.  Apple's hostility to standard cross-platform interfaces is just another nuisance for Apple customers to bear.  Sadly, many of them will go along with this and pony up more of their accessory dollars into overpriced mediocre Apple accessories.

An Apple car is rumored in the works.  I wonder whether it can only be driven on Apple roads.