I did a bit of amateur Photoshop work and this is (roughly) what I think the iPhone would look like with a normal jack. I hope that if you have doubts about the design that you can at least use your imagination to figure out what the real deal would look like.
Am I just being naive here? What is so wrong about this design? I don't think it's too bad and if it's true what some are saying (that the jack is recessed to get additional reinforcement - which I don't buy) then this would solve it and at the same time keep us from having to use a "workaround" adapter.
And if the recessed jack is merely to make the iPhone more attractive, well, I don't think this is ugly in the slightest! It's HONEST! What ever happened to integrity in design?
This is all we are asking for. Well, I am anyway.
Form follows function. It should ALWAYS be this way! And I don't think this "compromise" is ugly. No, it's not symmetrical. And to some it might be ugly. But to reduce the functionality just for appearance's sake is well, just snobby. It is Apple telling us that their pride in beautiful design is more important than our desire for useful functionality. They are willing to sacrifice our 3rd party earphones for their high fallutin' "clean lines." Apple is saying that they are better than us. That they know what is better for us than we do.
And that is just plain wrong.
Get off your elitist high horse Steve and give us what WE NEED, not what you want!

Am I just being naive here? What is so wrong about this design? I don't think it's too bad and if it's true what some are saying (that the jack is recessed to get additional reinforcement - which I don't buy) then this would solve it and at the same time keep us from having to use a "workaround" adapter.
And if the recessed jack is merely to make the iPhone more attractive, well, I don't think this is ugly in the slightest! It's HONEST! What ever happened to integrity in design?
This is all we are asking for. Well, I am anyway.
Form follows function. It should ALWAYS be this way! And I don't think this "compromise" is ugly. No, it's not symmetrical. And to some it might be ugly. But to reduce the functionality just for appearance's sake is well, just snobby. It is Apple telling us that their pride in beautiful design is more important than our desire for useful functionality. They are willing to sacrifice our 3rd party earphones for their high fallutin' "clean lines." Apple is saying that they are better than us. That they know what is better for us than we do.
And that is just plain wrong.
Get off your elitist high horse Steve and give us what WE NEED, not what you want!