Pundits can temporarily stop throwing stones at the Apple tree because the company has surprisingly good news. Despite the widespread criticism of removing the 3.55mm headphone jack from the iPhone 7, a sign that humans aren’t comfortable with change, Apple has had some good iPhone 7 sales the past quarter. In fact, the company has sold 78 million iPhone 7 units since the phone’s release September last year. This news might even turn the company’s bad news streak around and could set an example for other companies to follow the company’s philosophy when it comes to devices. Imagine laptop manufacturers emulating the MacBook Pro Touchbar, but heaven forbid they remove function keys.
The headphone jack debacle could be similar to the mob or crowd theory where everyone takes up their torches and pitchforks without realizing what they’re really chasing. That’s the magic of the internet and social media. The removal of the headphone jack may have had the opposite effect or remnants of Steve Jobs’ reality distortion field still exists. People bought the iPhone 7 because they’re curious or just don’t care about the headphone jack all the same. People bought the iPhone 7 for upgrade reasons or because they want the dual lens camera of the Plus model. People also bought more iPhone 7s in part because of Samsung’s explosive mistake. Infamy can sometimes make people like things subjected to it like a movie so bad it becomes a cult classic. The thing is, not every iPhone user even uses the headphone jack as not every iPhone user even bothers to use the iPhone as an iPod. They do so occasionally, but for the iPhone 7, they manage to make do with the included lightning adapter. Besides, the AirPods are already out, and Apple says that they’re just as well received.
And because of all the negative publicity surrounding the iPhone 7, even Apple was caught off guard as to the apparent positive reception. Tim Cook, the supply chain expert is now struggling to meet demand for the iPhone 7 Plus. Again, it’s clear that the headphone jack issue was a bit overblown. Tim Cook created a misunderstood monster that people chased down with torches only to find a cute Pokemon. If so, could Apple also make a turnaround as well for the Macbook Pro and again tell the world that it’s still innovating. It’s trying to, as it’s been reported that Apple is currently spending a lot on RnD. The iPhone 8 will no doubt be ridiculed for just using OLED screens which Samsung has been using for years. Anyway, it would be a pretty good idea for other manufacturers to adopt a Touchbar functionality or copy the Touchbar altogether. A lot of high-end laptops still come without touchscreens and users might enjoy its features like emojis, custom functions, and especially predictive text. But hopefully, manufacturers don’t sacrifice the function and Esc keys like Apple did. I still hate the fact that in some consumer laptops, users will have to press the Fn key to access F1 to F12.