The iPhone 7 is here... and we're back to 2006

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After months of waiting and endless speculations, the iPhone 7 is available for preorder in almost every part of the world. What intrigues me is why on Earth did they have to abandon the industry-standard 3.5mm audio jack??? Some years ago phone makers were using proprietary connectors for almost everything: they changed the charging connector every 2 or 3 years and they made you purchase headphones specifically designed for your device model. I remember I was an Ericsson, later Sony-Ericsson fan and on 3 phones I had 3 different chargers and headphones; I bought the last one in 2006. Then came the micro-USB standard, near-universal for charging (for every manufacturer except Apple) and the 3.5 mm headphone jack - also used on stereo players, amplifiers, CD players etc. etc. It was great to have it on your phone! Now it looks like Apple is rewinding history by 10 years, taking us back to a time when each manufacturer had its own designs for every mobile accessory and nothing was standardized. What I fear is that, as Apple succeeded in prodding other manufacturers to make phones with non-replaceable batteries (which I also find being a disgusting marketing trick meant at determining you to upgrade more frequently), other phone companies will follow suit. So in a few years we will have again 100's of headphone connectors :((((.