Shortly after buying Beats, Apple announced plans to replace the standard 3.5mm audio jack with its own audio jack format, the Lightning port. To many observers, this seemed like an attempt on the part of Apple to dominate the audio market and strong-arm consumers into exclusively purchasing Apple-licensed products. However, from both a technological and a design standpoint, the counterargument could also be made that a new audio jack interface is necessary to provide consumers with high-quality audio listening experiences.