I think posts like this fail to take into account the differences between computers and phones. The usage patterns and accessory needs are inherently different -- while losing a built-in optical drive might have been somewhat annoying, there were still USB drives available to those who wanted them and since laptops tend to be stationary on desks, this didn't fundamentally impact the way the drive was used. Same with serial ports: for the most part, once you plug it in, it doesn't actually matter what the physical connection is and the benefits of USB over serial were obvious and game-changing.
I would argue the headphone minijack is unique among all other connections you could point to. I would venture it's easily the single most widely adopted interconnect for any data transfer in the world by both number of devices and number of people who use it regularly; the most frequently connected/disconnected (no computer port would come remotely close), the most used in active and on-the-go situations, the one subjected to the most abuse; the one most integrated into 3rd-party devices like car stereos, home stereos and any audio equipment at all; and the easiest and cheapest to find replacement parts for. Not even USB would touch it on any of these fronts. And so I think trying to force a changeover is going to be uniquely difficult unlike any connection standard you could possibly point to. Going by sheer number of devices alone that would be affected, I don't think there's ever been a similar changeover for anything.
And there's another aspect which is that, presumably Apple is planning to replace the port for the entire iPhone line, leaving no option for those who still want a headphone jack in this device line. This is
not something they traditionally do. Even though they took out almost all ports for the rMB, the MBA line is still available. Even though they took out the optical drive from most Macbooks,
you can still buy a Macbook Pro with an optical drive and Ethernet if you want. Forcing an entire product line to switchover in a single generation (if that's what they do) is stunningly rash and myopic.