The market wants what the market wants. And Apple, for reasons that I still don't fully understand, drives a large portion of what the market wants. I think the earpods are ugly as sin, but I guarantee there are already a slew of pro-Apple articles written that are hailing them as the greatest invention since the wheel, and even more of them will be released as people have to defend their idiotic $200 purchases. I would much prefer the black-and-gold neo-victorian look. Once I upgrade from the Galaxy S4 I have now, I'm planning on getting a giant, chunky several thousand milliamp-hour capacity battery case, so that I don't have to constantly be thinking about my usage. Give me a brick of a phone, as long as it does the things I want it to do.