Motorolla already did it, I don’t remember anyone saying it was a good idea then.
When Motorola did it, they didn't offer anything to compensate for doing it. It was "ok, we removed the headphone jack, before Apple did" and then waited while crickets chirped.
Apple did it, and then went on to describe the "why" - and I will be the first one to comment that the "100 year old port" excuse was pure, unadulterated BS.
But, if you want water resistance and dust resistance, getting rid of a 3.5 mm hole is a good start, right? Now, if you will just bear with me, let me add on to some of the technical prowess that Apple brough to bear.
Apple purchased a silicion design company that specialized in ultra-low power designs. With this, they created the W1 chip (Wireless 1). This chip, is obviously ultra low power, which is important for battery powered devices. But, here's where it's quite revolutionary. Common Bluetooth reciever chips used in headsets did NOT support beyond the Bluetooth 2.x spec; which means that the music frequency was limited. Music sounded less than great. The current spec is Bluetooth 4.2, which added subchannels that allow for music to include codecs; so you can get the better sounding music. Now, that is all fine and good. Apple took it a step beyond. The W1 chip allows the iPhone to send the actual music file to the headset. The WHOLE FILE. Now, each headset only cares about the part of the file it's designed to play (why would the left earpod care about the right earpod's music?). So, the W1 decodes the whole music file, and the music is played WITHOUT LOSS. See the difference? Is this not a good thing?
Now, let's add some other cool stuff. How about the automatic and very fast pairing beetween the iPhone and the earpod? How about if 1 earpod falls out, the music stops. So, if you are listening to music, and one of those earpods (bear in mind, we are talking about $159 for a set, so they aren't cheap) falls out - you know it; because the music stops until you put it back in your ear.
My first question is this - Why didn't someone else do this? Rest assured, that after all - Wireless earphones and earpods have been on the market for years. Now that Apple has done this - it will only be a matter of months before someone rips off this Apple idea. That's just the way the world works, (right Samsung?)
Motorola did what? Who is Motorola? Oh yeah, I had a Motorola phone with an antenna. I upgraded it with a laser antenna that glowed different colors and cast an image on the wall every time I got a call. Man, was I pissed when they did away with the external antenna, saying it was old technology and I couldn't use the laser antenna on the newer models. What a stupid mistake. I never bought another Motorola phone. No wonder the company is on it's death throes.