I'm slightly embarrassed to say that my first "almost new" car purchase (Hertz Used Cars) came down to two - both of German make amusingly enough.

Since everything else I cared about (price, legroom, etc) was basically the same, the brand I went with was the one who's stereo worked better with my iPhone.

When was the last time you saw a review that audited the Bluetooth implementation on a device? I couldn't even make that kind of purchasing decision if I wanted to.

I bought a stereo receiver because it has bluetooth up and down and I preferred that to the proprietary protocol used by Sonos. I actually bought a Sonos first and returned it because I hated it so much. The latency makes it completely unusable for half of the desired applications though. So … not “so good” but “the one thing with Bluetooth that I found at the time”.

That was my argument above. It's something Adam Smith didn't realize: Capitalism optimizes to discomfort.

Over the decades, airlines have found more ways to put more seats in the same space, more ways to optimize a full plane even if it means more people are bumped, etc. They've made more money but it has also made flying a much poorer experience. Not patently horrible, but not comfortable either.

I think the wireless pairing/device switching experience with AirPods is a big reason (not the only reason) why they are so popular.

I've otoh bought products specifically because they have non wireless fallbacks or are wired only (even better, no batteries).

Perhaps certification is the solution then. You can't sell Bluetooth unless it's been certified.