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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,194
30,136



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Elevation Lab has released a $15 adapter that allows its popular Kickstarter project, the Elevation Dock, to be used with the iPhone 5. The company is also selling an $89 redesigned dock that is specifically designed for the iPhone 5.

With either solution, users need to provide their own Lightning to USB Cable.

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Article Link: Elevation Lab Releases Lightning Adapter for Popular iPhone Dock
 

LimeiBook86

macrumors G3
May 4, 2002
8,001
45
Go Vegan
It's nice to see that all you need is a new cable holder (and cable) for the iPhone 5 to work with the dock. They could have easily told you to buy a brand new dock. Smart move. :)
 

Glassed Silver

macrumors 68020
Mar 10, 2007
2,096
2,567
Kassel, Germany
89 USD for a flipping dock and not even the cable is supplied?
Thunderboltastic!


Now I know why they can't supply the cable, but I'm really mocking the price here...
meh...

Glassed Silver:mac
 

CarlJ

macrumors 604
Feb 23, 2004
6,971
12,133
San Diego, CA, USA
It's spendy because it's a solid block of CNC-machined aluminum. Won't leap off the desk when you pick up the phone (even when connected via old-school 30-pin connector). Was a very popular Kickstarter project.
 

pgiguere1

macrumors 68020
May 28, 2009
2,167
1,200
Montreal, Canada
The only thing insane is that there's still no freaking approved iPhone 5 dock that you can buy right now, 2 months after launch.

These guys could charge as much they want for it, there's no competition.

Also, these guys are a small startup designing and manufacturing docks in the US from CNC machined solid aluminium.

Their margins are undoubtedly proportionally lower than those of these well-known brands who will sell you mass-produced plastic-molded docks made in China for around $30.
 

fruitpunch.ben

macrumors 6502a
Sep 16, 2008
599
174
Surrey, BC
Does anyone know if audio out will be possible either with the iPhone 5 dock or the new adaptor? I am happy just to plug in my own 3.5mm cable, but i'm not sure if that will work
 

daneoni

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2006
11,569
1,123
lol...$89 for a dock? i'd rather put the phone on the floor whilst it's charging.
 

Kaibelf

Suspended
Apr 29, 2009
2,445
7,444
Silicon Valley, CA
Doesn't anyone else find that to be a bit insane?

Depends. I mean, to some, it's just a piece of colored machined metal. To others, it's a decorative accent piece. After all, isn't $1000 too much for a stuffed bag of polyester and feathers? Some colored oil on fabric sells for tens of thousands of dollars. How about a bunch of animal skins stitched together by cotton? Is that really worth hundreds? Yet people still buy beds, paintings, and leather coats.
 

charliex5

macrumors regular
Jun 27, 2008
181
0
Seattle, WA
Depends. I mean, to some, it's just a piece of colored machined metal. To others, it's a decorative accent piece. After all, isn't $1000 too much for a stuffed bag of polyester and feathers? Some colored oil on fabric sells for tens of thousands of dollars. How about a bunch of animal skins stitched together by cotton? Is that really worth hundreds? Yet people still buy beds, paintings, and leather coats.

YES! Appreciation of craft and thoughtfulness in design is something I thought I'd see more of on an Apple forum.

Nope. It seems to all boil down to price. Bring on the cheap plastic crap!
 

bigcat318

macrumors 6502
Dec 25, 2007
377
138
Depends. I mean, to some, it's just a piece of colored machined metal. To others, it's a decorative accent piece. After all, isn't $1000 too much for a stuffed bag of polyester and feathers? Some colored oil on fabric sells for tens of thousands of dollars. How about a bunch of animal skins stitched together by cotton? Is that really worth hundreds? Yet people still buy beds, paintings, and leather coats.

Wow the marketing teams really got to you. Decorative accent piece lol
 

8CoreWhore

macrumors 68030
Jan 17, 2008
2,649
1,181
Tejas
It kills the optical-out feature for those docks

I ordered one of these several days ago. Minutes later I realized it doesn't support the docks that have the optical-out feature. I immediately emailed them to cancel the order. I still haven't back from them on that, instead, they sent me an email that my order shipped. I looked at the tracking info - and it turns out it refers to the dock that shipped several months ago.

Good luck dealing with them.

:mad:
 

CarlJ

macrumors 604
Feb 23, 2004
6,971
12,133
San Diego, CA, USA
I think many people are missing the point -- this article isn't saying "hey, a new dock has been announced for the iPhone 5, so if you've been waiting for an iPhone 5 dock, here you go", rather it's saying "Elevation Labs, makers of a really expensive custom iPhone dock that was wildly popular on Kickstarter, have announced an adaptor to allow their existing dock to be used with the iPhone 5; this should be popular with their existing customers - oh, and you can also buy the dock along with the new adapter (for a very high price) if you feel so inclined."

They set out to build the Rolls Royce of docks for the iPhone 4, and largely achieved that, then Apple surprised everyone by changing the dock connector after a decade of sameness, and shortly after Elevation Labs got all those Kickstarted docks out the door. If you want a super-high-end dock, this is for you, if you'd rather put your phone on the floor/desk/ceiling (or in a not-yet-shipping cheaper dock), nobody's twisting your arm to buy one. To finish the analogy, people don't normally get all worked up merely because luxury cars exist.
 

mrgraff

macrumors 65816
Apr 18, 2010
1,087
837
Albuquerque
I think many people are missing the point -- this article isn't saying "hey, a new dock has been announced for the iPhone 5, so if you've been waiting for an iPhone 5 dock, here you go"...
To be fair, in addition to your clarification, it does say that too:

"The company is also selling an $89 redesigned dock that is specifically designed for the iPhone 5."

And seriously, $89 is too much.
 

tmanto02

macrumors 65816
Jun 5, 2011
1,217
452
Australia
I have always been a fan of the Elevation Dock! The solid steel design and one hand dock/undock is great! However I think I will wait until a proper Elevation Dock for iPhone 5 comes out.

Maybe by then I would have saved up enough :p
 

CarlJ

macrumors 604
Feb 23, 2004
6,971
12,133
San Diego, CA, USA
To be fair, in addition to your clarification, it does say that too:

"The company is also selling an $89 redesigned dock that is specifically designed for the iPhone 5."

Noted. Though to be fair, the article gets it wrong when it says "specifically designed for the iPhone 5" -- go look at the page linked in that sentence, and you won't find that text, instead you'll see their iPhone 4 dock with the same red iPhone 5 Lightning adapter inserted, and under that picture, the wording, "Lightning mount. Your cord fits securely inside the dock with our all-metal Lightning Adapter." So, I stand by my wording of, "oh, and you can also buy the dock along with the new adapter (for a very high price)".

Debate whether the price is reasonable all you want. I'm just trying to point out that a) the article was really about the availability of the adapter, not advertising a new dock, and b) they set out to make an expensive "cost-no-object" dock, and found an audience -- they got over 12K backers on Kickstarter (was kind of a sensation at the time, raised $1.4M of their $75K goal). To fault a Ferrari for being too expensive for practical around-town use is to miss the point of a Ferrari.
 
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