Unofficial Lightning USB Cables and Adapters Launching Soon at Significant Discounts

[Appleseeds]

Originally Posted by tkhan456

Good. Apple deserves to lose business to a cheaper alternative for trying to unnecessarily make the lightening connector proprietary and on top of that not even provide any good accessories almost a month from the launch of lightening.

Get over yourself. And if you buy one of these cheap knockoffs you deserve whatever mishap should occur.

[Mr. Gates]

Originally Posted by maccompatible

I wonder when lightning cables will detect a jailbreak and refuse to work??

Oh man, having to Jailbreak the cable......

[Tartarus]

Companies charge so much money its embarrasing to the american population, go to bestbuy and they will charge you $50 for a 6 foot HDMI cable, i went on amazon and paid $1.10 plus free shipping for a 15 foot hdmi cable!!! and its every bit as good if not better than the $50 best ripoff will charge you

[iChrist]

Originally Posted by dugbug

Did you miss the lightning cable teardown?

The cable has a ti chip and other digital logic. It is not a USB cable with a different tip

It dynamically assigns pin personality based on a code from the cable. One personality is of course USB.

That hardly qualifies as having a computer inside it.

[mdnz]

Originally Posted by maccompatible

I wonder when lightning cables will detect a jailbreak and refuse to work??

That is the great thing of a jailbreak. Since you have root access, you can just disable the phone checking for the jailbreak.

[dugbug]

Originally Posted by iChrist

That hardly qualifies as having a computer inside it.

He was trying to respond why the cables were not a dollar.

clear?

[MacDav]

Competition... good

[TechieGeek]

Originally Posted by growlf

What did you guys want? Mini/Micro USB? And what? an HDMI port on top of that? and an SD slot? and a VGA port... and...

MicroUSB would have been nice... Sound data can be transferred over USB for any docks or cars which want to be able to change songs. With MicroUSB you could also attach an external SD card reader so you can take photos from a camera to upload onto Facebook on the go.

I don't understand why they couldn't have used MicroUSB. Anything can be done over that data connection...and with USB 3.0 you'd be able to stream HD video to a TV.

[Texran]

A lot of people buy Apple because they want a good quality device, a revolutionary device and pay a premium for it. Then they whine and cry about a 20 or 30 dollar cable that fits the device they chose to buy.
Yes, it blows that I have things that don't fit my iPhone 5, I knew that when I bought it.
Either you like innovation or you don't. If you don't, just buy the primitive stuff.

UFB !!!

[jamojamo]

Originally Posted by everything-i

So you risk a £400 device for a saving of £10 on a cable. These cables look pretty low quality junk, you hardly save anything by using them, and risk damaging your expensive device. Think I'll pass on this one.

So true!

[Lark.Landon]

Originally Posted by cwesch

The dock would be a million times better if it took the 30 pin cable as well!

What am I supposed to do with all my 30 pins cables? I don't even know how I have so many!

…. Sell them on e-bay?

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Originally Posted by Tartarus

Companies charge so much money its embarrasing to the american population, go to bestbuy and they will charge you $50 for a 6 foot HDMI cable, i went on amazon and paid $1.10 plus free shipping for a 15 foot hdmi cable!!! and its every bit as good if not better than the $50 best ripoff will charge you

Yeah? I ordered some cheap gaming cables from Amazon and it was DOA. You get what you pay for. I guarantee that $1.00 HDMI cable will crap out on you. I do hope it doesn't though.

[devsfan1830]

Originally Posted by iSee

Excellent!
The barriers to me owning anything with a lightning connector are coming down.



CRC isn't security in any sense. This should just say: the connector has no security features.

CRC is, as stated in the quote you provided, BASIC security. A failed CRC check indicates that something has messed with the data, be it noise or tampering. It wont prevent anything on its own, but its the most basic level of security you can have really.

[wackymacky]

Originally Posted by growlf

Not old enough to remember SCSI drives, eh? A SCSI cable and a terminator would set you back more than this. WAAY more.

I see this connector and its associated technology as an acceptable transition to a future-proof(ish) design. What did you guys want? Mini/Micro USB? And what? an HDMI port on top of that? and an SD slot? and a VGA port... and...

The old giant connector limited their hardware designs and was cumbersome to work with. The new connector is small, elegant, and effectively transmogrifies to be whatever they need it to be; possibly adapting to connection standards that aren't even out in the wild yet.

Yeah, it sucks that if you want to buy the new devices, you need to move to the new connector. If that's having such an impact on your life that it is a major concern, I'm sorry.

My $.02.

SCSI I rembember having a Apple 40SC dirve and a Iomega that used SCSI. I think that was back about 1988?

[iChrist]

Originally Posted by dugbug

He was trying to respond why the cables were not a dollar.

clear?

By saying there was a COMPUTER inside??

It's a couple of simple chips. There are microchips in everything. So everyone should double their prices for basic components and explain, "Hey, ya know, it's gotta computer inside!"

Sorry dude, I hate to inform you that Steve is dead and so is the RDF. Jony I've can make all the 'magical' videos he wants, it ain't coming back.



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Originally Posted by Tartarus

Companies charge so much money its embarrasing to the american population, go to bestbuy and they will charge you $50 for a 6 foot HDMI cable, i went on amazon and paid $1.10 plus free shipping for a 15 foot hdmi cable!!! and its every bit as good if not better than the $50 best ripoff will charge you

Yeah, according to some of the geniuses on here, that cheap cable may DESTROY your $1k TV, so don't risk it!

[faroZ06]

About $6 extra to buy the real thing. That's worth it, but I think the fake 30-pin to Lightning is a good deal.

[coolspot18]

Where are the cheap Thunderbolt cables?

[faroZ06]

Originally Posted by Lark.Landon

Yeah? I ordered some cheap gaming cables from Amazon and it was DOA. You get what you pay for. I guarantee that $1.00 HDMI cable will crap out on you. I do hope it doesn't though.

I bought some el cheapo HDMI cables, and they've been working fine. I also bought a cheap/possibly-illegal HDCP stripper box from a now-bankrupt Chinese company that works perfectly. Now I can watch movies without being accused of thievery!

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Originally Posted by Appleseeds

Get over yourself. And if you buy one of these cheap knockoffs you deserve whatever mishap should occur.

So you're saying that he doesn't deserve any mishap, right?

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Originally Posted by iGrip

These guys should be hung, just like any pirate!

If they think that they are going to get away with this travesty, they got another thing coming to them. Apple is going to go to the ends of the earth to hunt them down and eradicate them and their cheap knockoff stolen crappy cables!

How dare they take Apple's IP, which took untold millions to develop, and to blatantly steal it? I mean really. Apple spends years and years, millions and millions of dollars, countless man-hours of the most talented engineers in the world to bring consumers the best connector ever conceived, and these guys steal all of it for a few bucks?

They should be ashamed. But theives have no shame. They are probably laughing at Apple. And by extension, they are laughing at the entire Apple community.

They need to be taught a lesson. And I am confident that they will be.

As much as I hate copycats, these guys are doing a service. Apple charges ripoff prices for their cables. I'd much rather pay the money to Apple instead, but they're trying to keep a monopoly on Lightning cables, so they deserve to be ripped off by scumbags.

I might be responding to a troll, but whatever.

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Originally Posted by IdiddidI

It astounds me how many people refuse to believe there is an amazing amount of technology in these cables (a D/A converter, data transfer, charging capabilities, etc.).

I'm sure Apple is making some profit, but I don't think they're trying to rake their customers over the coals on this one.

It is no way comparable to Monster charging $150 for HDMI cables which perform exactly as well as your Monoprice HDMI cable for 5% of the cost.

Apple is definitely making more profit than they should off of these, but it's nowhere near the level of Monster HDMI cables or even Apple MacBook chargers. $20 is a bit overpriced, but it's not terrible. I pity the fool who pays $100+ for HDMI cables I buy off of eBay for $2.50.

[timborama]

Originally Posted by tkhan456

Good. Apple deserves to lose business to a cheaper alternative for trying to unnecessarily make the lightening connector proprietary and on top of that not even provide any good accessories almost a month from the launch of lightening.

"lightening"...HAHA! It's Lightning!

[jessica.]

Originally Posted by lilo777

Since when have we started paying $30 for cables?

Apple sounds like the new Monster of cables.

[JAT]

You people. You know nothing. Complaining about $19 cables. Good lord. Monster? Don't make me laugh. Here, let's blow some minds. Here is a company that sells expensive cables. Like, 10' cable for almost three times the cost of the most expensive Mac, expensive. (and I mean BTO Mac Pro with every internal add-on selected)

http://www.transparentcable.com/index.html

Waah, waah, waah. Just don't buy lightning cables. Buy a GS3 and a $.01 cable ($3 shipping) and sit in the basement and smile about how you are smarter than everyone else. But for pity's sake, stop coming here and ranting about $19 cables.

[snugharbor]

Originally Posted by caffeinejoe

Ever hear of "Monster" cables? Obviously not iPhone related, but massively overpriced IMHO. It's somewhat of a niche market and some people think that price is directly tied to quality.

Yes, the monster cable mentality and therefore you are paying much more for the "secret sauce" of the cables. Consumer Reports and AVF have dubunked the myth of "special cables." They charge more because the marketing startegy is to sell the razor and hose the customer on the accessories/consumables.

[ghostface147]

I'd still like a nice official dock. I know Apple is going to supply one, but a good sanctioned one would suffice.

[billyîMac]

With all the tech in this cable (from what I have read), it will be a while before I trust an unauthorized 3rd party cable. Those who have torn it apart have even said Apple's prices are reasonable considering what's in it.

[aross99]

At the risk of incurring the wrath of most of the commenters in this forum, I really don't get the big deal over the cables.

Aren't these cables priced the same as the old ones?

Sure many of you bought cheap knock off 30 pin cables, but most people bit the bullet and bought the $20 apple 30 pin cables.

Sure it sucks to have to buy new cables - I bought three of them the day after I bought the iPhone 5, and had to drive almost 80 miles to the Apple store.

Yeah they weren't cheap - but they weren't cheap when they were 30 pin cables either...

Sure Apple over engineered lightning, just to that we could get a reversible cable, but it's not like they used top secret techniques to make the cables impossible to duplicate. How was it described - "not even as strong as the Ink jet cartridge companies use".

It's been what - a month since the lightning cable was unveiled, and we already have Chinese knock offs.

If everyone is freaking out about the the lightning cables, why are you still buying into the Apple ecosystem?

This is the way Apple works. They design great products and they work together with other Apple products in a way that works for most of us. They make decisions because THEY feel they are right - we're just along for the ride.

Two years from now, are we going to care? No. These issues will be a distant memory. Change happens and it sucks - move on.

If you don't like that, then you are only causing more pain by continuing to purchase Apple products.

It;s only going to get worse for you...

You are going to be upset about Apple making you jailbreak your iOS devices; you will hate Apple Maps; the iPhone 5 gets scratched; the iPad Mini is too expensive; you can't change the memory on the new 21" iMac, and on and on and on...

None of this matters to most of Apple's customers. It's the way Apple works, and you can take it or leave it.

As all of you keep saying there are lots of alternatives - and most of them use Micro USB cables for charging!

You have Android phones and Tablets, Amazon Tables, Microsoft (Nokia) phones and Tablets. Heck, you can even get Blackberry phones and tablets.

You have more GOOD choices than ever before!

Just make a choice - stick with Apple and take the few bad items that come along with great products, or make the switch and go with a platform that doesn't cause you so much grief...

I'm happy with my Apple devices, and I'm not ready to switch. Even if my iPad 3 is now outdated after 7 months, and I had to pay $60 for new cables.

Thats the end of my rant...

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Originally Posted by snugharbor

Yes, the monster cable mentality and therefore you are paying much more for the "secret sauce" of the cables. Consumer Reports and AVF have dubunked the myth of "special cables." They charge more because the marketing startegy is to sell the razor and hose the customer on the accessories/consumables.

I don't think you can compare Apple's $20 cables to Monster's cables.

Monster is trying to tell you their cables are better performing and have some intangible benefit.

Apple's cables have been $20 for as long as I can remember - that's just what the price is.

Their HDMI cable for $20 is a relative bargain compared to what you would pay for an HDMI cable at a RETAIL location...

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Originally Posted by ghostface147

I'd still like a nice official dock. I know Apple is going to supply one, but a good sanctioned one would suffice.

I'm disappointed about the loss of the dock also. Seems like a perfect opportunity for a third party though. Not sure you would need any fancy electronics either, if you used an existing USB to lightning cable to plug into the dock...

It's only been a month - lets see what products pop up down the road...

[HatterZero]

Originally Posted by BMNB1tch

why is a 10 cent cable $20 ?

Apple is turning into Best Buy

10cents to 20 bucks
Well first you have to pay people to design the thing, that means hours of work that you pay someone for to create many ideas on how to do something, create prototypes and test them, now 1 guy doesn't do this buy himself, so lets say you have to pay a team of people, oh and you have to pay the electric bill for that building, and pay for the materials, you have to also pay for the shipping and transporting of the materials.

Now once you finally have a good design that works, lets have the marketing team make up packaging, well we have to come up with different kinds of packaging, test those (yes things have to be tested don't want broken products to arrive in stores) go through different designs. Have to pay the bills of the marketing department as well, lights and water and such, and buy prototype materials for that.

Now you have to pay the guys who go pitch the sales of these items to over sea manufactures, because if 20 dollars for a cable is too much to some people we sure as hell can't make it 30 dollars and have it made in america no one would buy that. So you have to pay for food, airfare, hotel rooms, etc...

Now remember the you have to do this maybe twice because the guys who make the metal wire in the cable and plastic outside are not the same guys. You also have to negotiate prices and the guys who make the plastic and cardboard too, weather its the materials.

Now you pay the manufacturer of the cable to make them, now its time to ship them from one country to another, pay any type of import taxes on them if any at all. Pay the company that unloads them from the ship and sort them, send them ether to a plant for distribution which if apple owns pays the lights water etc, or pay a company to store them.

Now you get some truck guys, either pay them or pay a company if they are not apple employees, not sure if they do in company deliveries with their own trucks OR just pay ups to ship mass shipments.

Got to pay someone at the stores to unload, unpack and shelf the items, pay someone to sell the items, someone to count the items. Now this could all be the same person BUT you have to pay for all those hours. Across all your stores. If someone has a problem with the cable got to write off the cable or send it back, and give them a new cable.

Pay for the graphic designers to make it look pretty for the website, have your programmer create a section for the website and link it into the site so it maybe bought and not be shipped the wrong thing.

Now you have to pay check lane tender fees, what those are every time someone uses a credit card it can cost you 1 to 10% to pay to the credit card company, this is in store or online

Now that you have that all worked out and paid all these people to make phone calls and benefits, and insurance for each one of the team guys, but only for the full time apple employees.

Now sure when you do things in bulk you probably paying a production cost of around 2 or 3 dollars for that cable but we have to pay the bills, pay the workers, pay insurance on buildings, on workers, pay security companies for online processing pay rent to the warehouses, its the reason when you see 1 BILLION in revenue and you might see 300 million in profit.

I could give you all the reasons best buy charges more, its basically the same thing though.

*edit* remember at the end of the day, you are out to make a profit too

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Oh and thats why companies can make knock off much cheaper, if someone does all the R and D, its way easier to copy that instead of doing it yourself.