I think they are really shooting themselves in the foot if they don't open up and license the W1 chip to any manufacturer that wants it. If the only way forward is to buy poor quality AirPods (I'm assuming that they audio quality, like with the EarPods, is 'okay', but not great considering the price) or even more overpriced Beats, then this is a really user hostile move.

Yes, you could use Bluetooth, but I'm guessing (hoping...) Apple has done some work to make the stream quality sound better and the connection process more stable. If they were to freely license that technology, people could buy great sounding headphones, with an improved UX, from any company they chose too. Now, it just seems like Apple's "courageous" way forward is all about pushing you to high margin Beats and EarPods.