> Removing the audio jack also removes a whole market of products that were taking advantage of the audio jack for non-audio purposes (e.g. the Square dongle).
Except that it doesn't. Yes, you have to use an adapter now, and that's slightly (but only slightly) more clumsy than before, but "Square readers don't work any more!" is a particularly tired piece of FUD, which it would be nice not to see spread around any more by people such as HN participants who really should know better.
OK, how about things like the Apogee Jam[1] and MIDI adaptors? As far as I can tell, there aren't any MFi-certified Lightning splitters that support both data IO and audio out. (Usually it's just audio out + charge — and poor audio at that.)
Well, how about them? That's a reasonable concern, and a major problem for people who want to use such devices with an iPhone 7. They aren't Square readers, though, or any other kind of device that uses the headphone jack for data, and it's inaccurate, disingenuous, and unhelpful to claim that such devices no longer work.
Except that it doesn't. Yes, you have to use an adapter now, and that's slightly (but only slightly) more clumsy than before, but "Square readers don't work any more!" is a particularly tired piece of FUD, which it would be nice not to see spread around any more by people such as HN participants who really should know better.