The answers to your points relate back to what I see is the core of this article — that Apple doesn’t give a hoot what technerds think, they aren’t an engineering *driven* company but spend insane amounts of time trying to get into the consumer psyche and develop products which consumers will fall in love with, not just use.

1. Apple wouldn’t even release a Google glass type product — there are so many reasons as to why, not least of which is that their market is consumer based and consumers need (low) specific price points to be involved. They did once, the Newton, and they’ve learnt from that mistake and never made it again. I owned one and loved it and, frankly I wish I’d kept it now, but the Newton was never going to become a mainstream product because consumers weren’t ready for that price point and it just didn’t solve the problems it needed to. That’s why Apple will sit on companies and technologies they’ve bought or created for years before doing anything with them, until the time, form-factor, and aesthetics and user experience comes together.
2. Bluetooth — pairing Bluetooth is often a pain. Bluetooth is a lot more mature and adopted now but I’d guarantee that Apple has done it better and Airpod will be a step beyond what consumers have had to put up with in the past. And almost all the Bluetooth devices I’ve encountered are just not consumer friendly (think your granny who just wants to truly plug and play).
3. Adoption of voice computing: this really brings home to me that you fail to fully understand why Apple is what it is and how they work. I hear things like “Apple didn’t invent the mp3, Apple just made it look nice”. I feel that you are so wrong when you say “Technology does not become mainstream simply because the supporting hardware is sexy”. That’s precisely what happened with the iPod, and the iPhone. But what made it so widely adopted was the supporting ecosystem, along with the incredible ease of use inherent in the devices, and this was down to timing — not the first, not even the best, but because it was entirely at a different level. Apple did make the whole mp3 and iphone revolution truly mainstream. Grannies could use it, techies could love it, and with voice computing, if the design is beautiful, the tech works seamlessly, and the voice ecosystem exists — and I believe Apple wouldn’t release it unless it believed all these things are there — then the timing is perfect, again. Apple doesn’t wait until the market is there, only that the consumer is ready for it — and this is their superpower- being able to assess that timing and deliver the right product to capture people’s imagination. Apple innovates because it enforces new paradigms upon it’s users, providing simplicity and unmatched ease of use. They *get* the concept of IoT.
4. “That makes Apple look greedy.” Seriously? How often have I heard this over the last 20+ years… the 3.5 floppy, a range of different I/O and charger ports, the CD, now the audio jack. Never has Apple made the mistake of screwing their customers with unnecessary upgrades, or for the sake of a bit of extra cash. Even when consumers didn’t understand, there was always a very good tech reason for Apple to ditch certain tech and move forward. And invariably in hindsight people understood.
   If for no other reason, I am soooo happy with this move because it’s means I won’t be replacing set after set of wired earphones for my kids when they destroy yet another pair when pulling them out of the socket or through the stress of wear and tear on the wired connections etc. I gave up buying very good quality earphones because they just don’t last (and then the kids would pinch my good ones instead).
5. And anyone silly enough to lose them at a railway station will be a small minority — I’m sure the experience will teach you to protect them in such circumstances. And also, how long before they get a lot smaller as well? Not long I wouldn’t think. In a short time 3rd party options will abound on the market — in fact ,if you wish to be cynical of APple’s reasons then I’d posit that Apple supports the 3rd party accessory market through advances like these. It’s a 2-way street for them. Both benefit, but again, unlike Microsoft which has made many cynical moves with their technical support base and engineering decisions, Apple has yet to be shown to have made any tech decisions without first thinking of the consumer and the future, even though the consumer may not have “got it” originally. Yes, they’re in it for the money, but from the beginning they’ve always prioritised customer adoption, satisfaction and customer outcomes.