Apple Lowers Licensing Costs for Lightning Cables and Other MFi Accessories

[Renzatic]

Anti-trust charges should be brought against apple for then MFi program. It's horrible and prevents innovation in that space. The cost of entry is ridiculous.

I agree with the latter, but you can't charge them with an anti-trust suit. They're charging a premium for a license to design accessories for the iDevices. The only thing they have a monopoly in are their own products, and even that isn't all encompassing, because Apple can't stop some random manufacturer from making unregistered 3rd party goods.

 

[tevion5]

Those Chinese manufacturers on eBay that sell imitations of every accessory has ever created under the sun will be really happy about this move.

Because they seem so legitimate and definitely pay licensing fees...

And it's amazing how their lightening cables still only cost €0.99 with free shipping.

Yep, the licence fee is clearly in there somewhere...

 

[rdlink]

Especially given the quality. We've replaced three cables in the last six months.

And I haven't replaced one since I bought my first 6 in September, 2012. Are you using them for shoe laces?

Was at the Apple store yesterday. Got the trackpad replaced on my nearly three year old MBA for free. Mentioned to the Genius Bar guy that my fingerprint sensor on my iPhone was much less accurate than it was originally and he replaced my 5S instantly. While he was at it he called the accessory guy over and had my Apple leather iPhone case replaced because the little bar between the home button and the lightning port was cracked.

Complain all you want about Apple pricing vs. quality. They make extremely solid products, and back them better than anyone else in the tech business.

 

[UnfetteredMind]

I believe that Thunderbolt is a technology that was created by Intel, not Apple. Apple is just the first company to use it commercially...

Let's not let that get in the way of blaming Apple for the high prices!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/01/1...ng-and-certification-but-improvements-coming/

 

[sc4rf4c3]

People just need to take care of them. I still have my iPod Nano's one. The iPad Mini's was the one that came apart, because they're much thicker.

Heck, I still have my cable from my original iPod 3rd generation from 2003. Can't use it on my newer Macs, but hey, still works!

These lightning cables are just plain garbage. No matter how much you take care of them, they seem to stop working. My old 30-pin cables still work. My wife went through 3 of these lightning cables and now she uses a battery pack to charge her phone which uses a micro usb cable.

 

[paradox00]

They need to lower Thunderbolt costs. Accessories are a joke and this is turning into Firewire all over again.

Why is Apple able to create shifts in the industry with iPhones and iPads but can't even make a half butt attempt to start a new connection standard?

Thunderbolt was never intended as a replacement for USB. It's a high performance interface that requires a chip sold by Intel, not Apple, and it is starting to hit its stride in the markets that need such a connection.

 

[Aniseedvan]

These lightning cables are just plain garbage. No matter how much you take care of them, they seem to stop working. My old 30-pin cables still work. My wife went through 3 of these lightning cables and now she uses a battery pack to charge her phone which uses a micro usb cable.

.. and micro USB cables are cheap as chips. A quick check and a genuine Nokia USB cable is going for £1.91 on Amazon. I bought one 4 years ago, and it's as good as when I bought it...

 

[applesith]

Anti-trust charges should be brought against apple for then MFi program. It's horrible and prevents innovation in that space. The cost of entry is ridiculous.

It's Apple's platform!

Based on your logic, anyone should be able to sell a Playstation game without any approval or oversight by Sony.

Some people are so quick to call for the government to fix problems

 

[Skika]

Big LIKE!

 

[rdlink]

These lightning cables are just plain garbage. No matter how much you take care of them, they seem to stop working. My old 30-pin cables still work. My wife went through 3 of these lightning cables and now she uses a battery pack to charge her phone which uses a micro usb cable.

Not sure what you're doing to them. I've had 6 of them since September 2012, and they all work fabulously for me. One on my desk at work. One in my bedroom. One in my living room. One in my briefcase that travels with me. One in my car. One in my GF's car. Not a problem with any of them.

 

[MikhailT]

So what's the new fee? Kudos to Apple for what's behind their intention on creating the MFi program but 10% on the wholesale cost seems really high.

10$ or 10% of the retail price, whichever greater was the original fee (which was stupidly expensive). It already dropped a few times in the past few years to 4$ per connector a while ago, and now they've dropped it again. If you read the article, you'd know that.

We don't know what the latest fees are, we have to wait a few months to find out.

Note that recently, at least two of the iOS 7 gamepad controllers went down 20$ already. So, that might be a part of the price drop here.

Anti-trust charges should be brought against apple for then MFi program. It's horrible and prevents innovation in that space. The cost of entry is ridiculous.

Learn how anti-trust laws work because this is absolutely legal. It happens more often than you'd think in other areas, such as game consoles and so on.

In addition, those are active cables, not passive cables. Those requires a chip on each end to handle the high-speed traffic without requiring the PC to do this. Those are always going to be more expensive then passive cables like USB.

USB passive cables are dumb cables where the USB controller or the PC will handle the traffic, thus they're much cheaper to produce and to sell.

These lightning cables are just plain garbage. No matter how much you take care of them, they seem to stop working. My old 30-pin cables still work. My wife went through 3 of these lightning cables and now she uses a battery pack to charge her phone which uses a micro usb cable.

What are you doing to them? I have all of my lightning cables for years and none of them died on me.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Regardless of price, I'd rather buy it by Apple. All the 3rd party reviews I've read on ANY lighting cables have been pretty bad.

 

[BvizioN]

i need one for my room, my desk, my car, and my living room,bathroom, kitchen, balcony, garden and my office . Spending 100 dollars on that is insane.

Corrected

 

[marclondon]

These lightning cables are just plain garbage. No matter how much you take care of them, they seem to stop working.

Indeed - the Lightning cable is one of the worst products Apple has produced - sure if you are very careful to always unplug them from the connector body then they stand a chance but in normal use by my kids they stand no chance and will fail near to the connector when stressed.

The cheap non-certified ones may work but all the ones I've tried have either not worked or failed quickly (and also can charge very slowly).

Currently we have an Amazon Basics cable for the family iPad but I see it's already showing some bare wire by the connector…

One way to protect them is to use some heat shrink tubing but the Amazon plug was too big for the tubing I have.

M.

 

[weckart]

They need to lower Thunderbolt costs. Accessories are a joke and this is turning into Firewire all over again.

Why is Apple able to create shifts in the industry with iPhones and iPads but can't even make a half butt attempt to start a new connection standard?

Greed will be duly rewarded as TBolt goes the way of FW.

All the knock off lightning cables bar one I have tried have either not worked or stopped working shortly afterwards as Apple catches up with their spoofed serials and blocks them. £15+ for cable is a disgrace.

 

[sc4rf4c3]

Not sure what you're doing to them. I've had 6 of them since September 2012, and they all work fabulously for me. One on my desk at work. One in my bedroom. One in my living room. One in my briefcase that travels with me. One in my car. One in my GF's car. Not a problem with any of them.

What are you doing to them? I have all of my lightning cables for years and none of them died on me.

We take good care of our gadgets including cables. Like I said I still have 3 30-pin cables from my iPod, 4s, and iPad 2. All of them still work and look great. The same for all the OEM micro usb that we have, they all work. The weak spot on the lightning cable is the part where it meets the connector. It is very flimsy and bending it slightly could damage the cable.

 

[RDeckard]

People taking care of them has nothing to do with the cost, i need one for my room, my desk, my car, and my living room. Spending 100 dollars on that is insane.

Maybe this will help?

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=112&cp_id=11213&cs_id=1083101&p_id=10374&seq=1&format=2

$11.85 each if you buy between 2 & 9 pieces. Still not $1 each like you can get from China, but at least you know they'll work and not shock & kill you (I know... People were killed from the fake chargers, but at least you know these will have some standards and the cable won't fry your phone or computer).

I bought 2; those prices won't bankrupt me, but I'm sure the price is still too high for some. I'm sure others won't be happy unless they were free.

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These lightning cables are just plain garbage. No matter how much you take care of them, they seem to stop working. My old 30-pin cables still work. My wife went through 3 of these lightning cables and now she uses a battery pack to charge her phone which uses a micro usb cable.

We have Apple 3 lightning cables, and 2 Monoprice lightning cables. 2 elementary school-aged kids in the house that use all of them to charge and sync since the iPhone 5 came out.

Zero problems.

 

[curmudgeon32]

you should be able to get a 3 pack of these cables for 30 dollars, pricing is ridiculous.

You can come fairly close. Monoprice has licensed ones for ~$12

 

[RDeckard]

Anti-trust charges should be brought against apple for then MFi program. It's horrible and prevents innovation in that space. The cost of entry is ridiculous.

Anti-trust? You might as well just bring charges against Apple for simply existing. Apple can't prevent others from making accessories.

One can always buy cheap Chinese knock-offs. Ask the families of those who were killed by knock-off chargers if they still use those knock-offs.

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You can come fairly close. Monoprice has licensed ones for ~$12

Looks like I posted a link to the Monoprice ones about the same time you were typing.

I have a couple from them (Monoprice); they're MFi-certified and they work great (like all of the other cables I get from them). BTW, I have no affiliation with Monoprice -- just a happy customer.

 

[ElZeus]

Hopefully this makes some of the MFi controllers go down in price quickly. On a side note my lightning cable is starting to malfunction it seems the wire is loose on the lightning end I treat the cable very carefully and have never had a 30pin cable break on me.

 

[perealb]

10$ or 10% of the retail price, whichever greater was the original fee (which was stupidly expensive). It already dropped a few times in the past few years to 4$ per connector a while ago, and now they've dropped it again. If you read the article, you'd know that.

Did you really read my post? I knew it was 10%. It's there in my observation. I was asking about the NEW fee.

 

[Bevz]

I'd prefer they spend their efforts redesigning the cable so it'll last more than a month! Right now; i begrudge paying more than 50p for this POS...!

 

[jimthing]

Multi-device lightning charging docks ?!

What many are STILL waiting for are MULTI-DEVICE CHARGING DOCKS/STATIONS!

They existed for 30-pin devices, but NOT ONE SINGLE ONE for Lightning devices.

I have several Lightning devices in my home, and charging them is becoming a real pain, as every single one requires an individual single cable from a plughead. For example, in my kitchen we constantly need to charge several devices at the same time – multiple plugs and cables everywhere: why! Apple's licensing, that's why.

The only couple of things on the market are "docks" that are essentially shelves with USB points on them, that you then have to plug several individual Lightning cables into, which is so messy with them falling all over the place, getting tangled-up, and in the way all the time; thus a real pain in the arse.

What we are STILL waiting for (since the release of the first Lightning devices around 18 months ago!) is a dock with MULTIPLE Lightning pins in it so we can just click 4 to 6 Lightning iDevices in, to charge directly without the sodding cables.

Come on Apple, don't be dicks. Realise that your customers have several Lightning iDevices in our homes now, yet when we need to charge many of them at once, why do we not have the option of ONE charging station without additional cables, nearly a year and a half since the new connector was released.

 

[mdelvecchio]

Why is Apple able to create shifts in the industry with iPhones and iPads but can't even make a half butt attempt to start a new connection standard?

...er, because that isn't their job? they use the best tools for the job (like when they became the first notebook w/ USB), and when their isn't one they create it (FireWire, Lightning, TB, etc..)

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Not everything Apple makes has to have massive profits attached.

Just makes it hard for Apple fans to justify, and give Apple detractors more to complain about.

so how do you suppose they grew to be the most profitable PC and mobile makers? hint: by not joining the race to the bottom...

 

[carjakester]

You can come fairly close. Monoprice has licensed ones for ~$12

i already have the cables i need, i was talking about apple. Though i know it will never happen.