20-30% loss? You're being generous today.

I've got a motorcycle helmet bluetooth pack that uses a 4 wire 1/8" plug for both the headset connection and the charging connection. The robustness and water/dustproofing comes down to putting some effort into quality and design (the jack can be sealed internally for water with a slide-in replaceable jack, and a simple plug or slide cover makes it dustproof. The excuse about making the phone smaller is lame, since they've made phones too big to fit in a shirt pocket for a decade, and anyone who does useful work outside ends up with an Otterbox.

Apple has no concern at all for anything but fleecing naive customers behind patent picket fences.

The EU should have a law that batteries should be also standardized for size, voltage and connections (cordless tools, anyone?).

Beyond a certain point, we have to realize the ridiculousness of our corporate overlords' sense of humor.