This is all mere speculation but following the news that Apple asked Google to not include multi-touch in Android (which Google complied with) we have some speculation that Apple also asked Google not to include a 3.5mm headphone jack. Apple’s use of remote buttons on their headset to control media functions is supposedly the sticking point. What the!?
We semi, sorta get Google agreeing to not implement multi-touch (esp. considering the drama that the Palm Pre v. Apple is getting into) but certainly Apple does not have the flex to manipulate Android HARDWARE as well, right? Our good friend Rene at TiPb is equally skeptical (and of course managed to put in an Android zinger, as well):
Other smartphones have long used the 3.5mm headphone jack, and since the G1 is hardly a media powerhouse (it doesn’t even include a built-in video app), there’s little reason to believe HTC couldn’t have included a non-remote, standard 3.5mm jack.
We hate the fact that the G1 lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack, it’s especially ridiculous in today’s climate of media-heavy smartphones but we highly doubt that this was a Google/Android decision. Take a look at HTC’s previous phones and future lineup–no 3.5mm headphone jack, just the “jack of all trades” ExtUSB (lame!). So what do you guys think? Is Apple being the master puppeteer here or is this not feasible at all?
[via The iPhone Blog]