Very nice. I do believe you nailed it. I think the only thing I would add is that those of us who are not of Silicon Valley appreciate not only the design, but also the relative reliability of Apple’s products and, accordingly, tend to take things on faith sometimes.

I’m une femme d’un certaine age and I’ve been involved with electronics and high end “stereo” since 1972. I worked with music reproduction gear from tubes through transistors and watched folks angst over the changes there. Moving from quarter inch jacks to minis was not all that much of an issue. The internal hardware changes, yes, because there is a difference in sound, but eventually the possibilities afforded by transistors and circuit boards prevailed.

While I am now just an end user I relish the personalization of computer and sound equipment. I really haven’t met anyone here in user land who is fashed about losing the mini plug. (Affording the AirPods is another matter given my propensity for losing ear buds that actually attach to my phone.)

Thanks for a refreshing view of the tempest.