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napabar

Suspended
Jun 12, 2008
316
513
Some of us would like an extra for the car and office but not at the prices Apple is charging for them.

Hmmmm.....Your signature states you own 2 Macs and 3 iOS devices....I'm sure you can afford an extra cable....
 

Fusion79

macrumors 6502
Feb 12, 2011
362
135
Omaha, NE
Apple should have had Lightning accessories like car chargers ready at the launch of the iPhone5. It's bad enough that they made this connector change to begin with, the technical rationale for doing so notwithstanding. They were irresponsible in not having appropriate Lightning connector accessories to replace the old style accessories at launch.

5 demerits for Apple on this one.

Yup, One issue I have with samsung is it takes them months after releasing a phone before the accessories are out, if they come out at all. Apple has had a long time to get ready for this and they have failed. They should have had a stockpile of adapters ready for launch and the fact there is still a backorder is inexcusable.
 

blackhand1001

macrumors 68030
Jan 6, 2009
2,599
33
But then Samsung would sue Apple over "copying" them.......:rolleyes:

Unlike apple, other companies make open standards and embrace other companies adopting those standards. They also understand that patenting things like multitouch which is possible because of something your supplier makes is wrong. Apple does not make the capacitive screens nor did they invent them. Therefore they have no right to patent anything to do with their operation. They are hurting the touchscreen manufacturer by limiting their own product.
 

Tastic Bycrom

macrumors regular
Jul 15, 2008
113
0
Kansas City, MO
Actually I did :rolleyes: Have you not heard of the process of soldering?

ZchVg.jpg

Cool, but dumb question: was there a need for a skinny long cable or could you have just brought a USB extension cable?
 

Fusion79

macrumors 6502
Feb 12, 2011
362
135
Omaha, NE
Hmmmm.....Your signature states you own 2 Macs and 3 iOS devices....I'm sure you can afford an extra cable....

It's not about what I can afford. It the principal. I refuse to pay top dollar for cables especially when I just want a couple extra for charging purposes.
 

typecase

macrumors 6502
Feb 2, 2005
388
395
Amen.

Seems like this would be a lot cheaper and easier to make.

Yes. Before I upgraded, I had a USB/Dock cable in the car, next to my bed, attached to the desktop Mac for syncing and finally one in my travel bag. Now, I have one cable which I now have to transport everywhere. I tried buying another at $20 but cannot get one anytime soon. Oh, yeah and it doesn't work with any of the docks and accessories I've collected over the years without the also rarer-than-gold adapter.

In short, since I use my iPhone everywhere, everyday, my life is worse with this connector. :(
 

840quadra

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 1, 2005
9,253
5,966
Twin Cities Minnesota
Cool, but dumb question: was there a need for a skinny long cable or could you have just brought a USB extension cable?

I made mine with Cat 6 cable, so as long as the copper (or Aluminum if you go with something else) can carry the signal without too much resistance, you should be golden no matter what you choose.

My example doesn't look that pretty, but it is intended to be installed in a location where people can't see it :) .
 

ArchAndroid

macrumors regular
Aug 26, 2012
100
4
London, England
Customer says:
I just want a cheap recharge/power only cable!

Apple interprets this as:
I just want a unique cable which changes the charging paradigm for the better and I'm willing to personally invest endless funds into seeing this proprietary item come to fruition! Please make this next connector a game changer and please artificially lock the product so that we have to pay your questionable markups as there is no other alternative.

:apple:
 

fruitpunch.ben

macrumors 6502a
Sep 16, 2008
599
174
Surrey, BC
I am nearly always in favour of what Apple does, because it nearly always makes good customer or business sense.
Like changing the connector makes good sense. It was too big and clunky, and the double-sided thing is great.
Micro-USB, despite what ignorant android fans claim, would NOT have worked. The new dock connector is so much more sophisticated, can do much more and will support future technologies.
HOWEVER, locking the new connector down so much is strange to me. To require companies to use specific factories to build accessories? What is the benefit to the customer or benefit to the business (aside from making people pay $29 for a first party adaptor)? I just don't get it
 

aliensporebomb

macrumors 68000
Jun 19, 2005
1,907
332
Minneapolis, MN, USA, Urth
Crimeny

Why is this even an issue? Nobody can buy an iPhone5 due to extremely limited availability locally (I've been quoted anytime from October 30 to November 5 so that means I get to go on vacation with my old iPhone 4 and it's not so exciting camera by comparison). So. It might be an issue come November though.
 

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,537
1,645
Redondo Beach, California
All this nonsense and they could have just used microusb with MHL support and had all the functions this new dock connector has.

I think Apple wanted a better connector. micro USB is not suitable at all for a dock because it is to hard to line up and I think you'd break it. THis new connector appears to be rounded and you can't put it in backwards because both ways work.

The problem is that the old 30-pin connector had ANALOG stereo signals on it. So a 30-pin to lightning cable would need at least a DAC in the cable shell. Quite a bit of electronics to hide inside.
 

anthonymoody

macrumors 68040
Aug 8, 2002
3,050
1,139
The only thing I care about frankly is getting the damned things. My cable arrived, so I can charge in the car, but I need an adapter for a dock I love.
 

ALMF

macrumors regular
Jun 20, 2012
147
1
I am holding off on the new phone untill more lightning compatible items are available. I may be waiting a long time lol
 

chrisk1

macrumors member
Jun 21, 2010
38
0
OMG why is this such a big deal?! The micro USB connector sucks. It's keyed in one direction and can be hard to plug in if the room is dim/dark.

I ordered another 2 cables from Apple and got them in 2 days.
 

HobeSoundDarryl

macrumors G5
HOWEVER, locking the new connector down so much is strange to me. To require companies to use specific factories to build accessories? What is the benefit to the customer or benefit to the business (aside from making people pay $29 for a first party adaptor)? I just don't get it

You did get it (bolded above). Mix in the licensing requirements and you fully get it.

And still, the "free PR" cheerleaders spin it as innovative, necessary, etc. The prior proprietary adapter wasn't "clunky" until Apple decided to change it. It wasn't "too big" or "too old" either. In fact, it would have fit the same-sized iPhone 5, iPod and iPad (maxi & mini) just as well as it fit the prior generations. It was just as fast and conceptually offered the added pins for even more future flexibility of functionality.

There is always a business advantage though in developing a new hardware standard and thoroughly locking it down: very high margin profits and lucrative licensing deals as the whole world of loyal buyers must eventually deal with the change (by spending money to change, and a slice of that money flowing to Apple).

I wish Apple would focus their profit maximization efforts on bigger picture stuff: Macs, iDevices, <next big thing that is not either of those>, rather than nickel & dimeing us like this. Of course, there will be XX bashers who tell me how wrong I am... that this change was absolutely necessary... even at their own personal expense of having to make the change with us. Because what matters to us Apple consumers is maximizing Apple's profits in every possible way. Apparently that matters more to some of us than getting good value for our own money.
 
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