A few weeks back, when it was announced that Apple were purchasing Beats By Dre for an obscene amount of money, the general consensus was “why the hell would they do a thing like that?” The reason may have just become clearer. Information obtained this week by the tech blog 9To5Mac shows that Apple are working on a brand new type of headphones, which connect using the company’s own Lightning Port, instead of the 3.5mm jack that is currently the standard across most devices.
While this move seems a bit sneaky, it’s also kind of ingenious on Apple’s part. They’ve already cornered the hand-held market with the iPhone itself, so why not edge out competing headphone manufacturers by making future Apple consumers purchase their own, unique brand of headphones? The ghost of Steve Jobs is so angry that he didn’t come up with this idea years ago that he’s presently farting into all of Ashton Kutcher‘s pillows to let off steam.
It’s speculated that Lightning Headphones could actually have some advantages over the standard 3.5mm jack variety – they will allow for better audio quality, if you like that sort of thing and can afford the really expensive kind, but more interestingly than that, the Lightning Jack can receive as well as send power, meaning that theoretically, you might be able to charge your device just by plugging a pair of headphones in.
Long story short, if Apple go ahead with this plan, they will probably clean up, thanks in no small part like the laziness of consumers who will continue to just buy their products because it’s easier, and pony up for a set of Lightning Headphones if theirs break or go through the wash. Selling its own high-end Beats By Dre-branded headphones with a Lightning connector on them will surely score the company even more cash in the long term.
“Apple: The cure for the common headphone jack,” said Don Draper, even though nobody asked him.
via Forbes
Photo: Andrew Burton via Getty Images
