Apple Inc. is one of the most influential technological brands, having successfully reap in revenue between $42.4 billion US dollars during their third quarter of 2016, and a quarterly net income of $7.8 billion. The company has pride itself with it's innovative thinking, through its slogan 'Think Different', alongside with new products integrated into our daily lives. However, Apple Inc. has been raising eyebrows with it's decision to discard the audio jack in it's recent flagship phone - the iPhone 7.

The rumours circulating around Apple's new flagship phone has been floating around for the past year and a half, and already formed major mixed opinions from the public already with many wishing the iPhone 7 audio-jack was merely a rumour. Some definitely argued that Apple Inc has lost it, becoming more profit hungry and only interested in doing less yet making more. By removing the audio jack in the new phone, Apple is engaging in price skimming strategies with its consumers by charging $159 for a pair of wireless earphones, known as 'Airpods' - with many stating the price being immoral considering potential buyers are coerced into purchasing them. 

However, the mixed reception of the phone could simply be a resistant to change of new technology. William Gibson's Science-Fiction novel 'Neuromancer' (1984) shared a didactic message of the potential (yet negative) outcome of technology being integrated into our daily lives - especially during a time where computers and phones started to become more common, and was a turning point for technology. Furthermore, his prescient novel was disproved as technology benefited and increased the productivity of the general public - furthering the advancements of the 21st century. Additionally, the release of the MacBook Air in 2008 similarly received mixed opinions from the public - having it to be praised for being student and work-friendly with its portability, weight and multi-touch track-pad, yet be the center of criticism was followed by its configuration of limited features such as the ports, and the removal of the hard-drive. Despite this, the criticism of the MacBook Air has been resolved, and has become one of best selling Apple products to this day. Apple Inc. has been an innovator for new technology, however the apprehension from the public speaks volume as Apple is removing one of those most valuable asset from it's phone, however Apple comments on it's decision saying, "The audio connector is more than 100 years old," Joswiak says. "It had its last big innovation about 50 years ago. You know what that was? They made it smaller. It hasn't been touched since then. It's a dinosaur. It's time to move on." 

Perhaps this is just mere resistance to change, considering there has been similarities with prior Apple innovations in terms of mixed reception from the public. It's too early to know whether or not Apple has truly lost it, and is focusing more on increasing it's profit margin until the release of the iPhone 7. But Apple Inc. has truly set precedent with technology in the past, and perhaps in the future there would be more wireless earphones, and audio jack-less phones.