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Apple Lowers Licensing Costs for Lightning Cables and Other MFi Accessories
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Well, I guess we have different experiences. I've had to replace a lot more 30-pin cables than lightning.
Right, just pointing out that licensed "official" cables can be had pretty close to the price you mentioned.i already have the cables i need, i was talking about apple. Though i know it will never happen.
i got a jivo cable off of groupon for 15 dollars i think and its like 10 feet long and a much better build than the stock apple cables.
People just need to take care of them.
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!
Or Apple should make better quality cables like they used to. I have my old iPod Classic cable still completely intact. I've gone through two iPhone 5 cables in a year and finally bought a third party one, which actually charges faster and is more durable. A little pricey since I'm in a foreign country, but I think it's still cheaper than Apple's. And it's Apple certified so I won't get shocked.
The licence should be free. A halo of iPhone and iPad accessories sells more iPhones/iPads. Charging any sort of fee encourages accessory manufacturers to consider offering other connectivity options that do not cost them anything, and coincidently accommodate other devices.
An own goal if ever there was one.
An own goal if ever there was one.
Yes, I did. You said exactly this:
It looks like you think 10% was the previous fee, it's not. It was the original fee a couple of years ago when they released the lightning cable.
The previous fee is $4 per connector now, not the $10/10% of retail price.
I disagree; Thunderbolt has plenty of uses in a consumer market. Daisy-chaining is one such big feature.
Lots of people use multiple displays, especially at their desks at work. It would make things much easier if they could all be chained together and you could attach some accessories such as fast external storage straight on to your monitor.
Laptop docking stations are another example. Since it does just wrap PCIe, it can support any other ports (such as USB, Ethernet) ports that you can get PCIe adapters for. In fact, Apple did exactly that with their Thunderbolt display.
Then read again because I never talked about the original or previous fee, I was referring to the 10% fee mentioned in the article. There is nothing in the article about any other fee apart from the announcement that a month ago Apple reduced its fee by an unnoticed rate. That's why I asked if anyone knew what the new fee was.
Holy crap, I apologize. My mistake. I was recalling this article and I confused it as MacRumors: http://appleinsider.com/articles/14...ving-way-for-more-affordable-ios-accessories-
In this article, it linked to Quora where a knowledgeable guy who had data on what the latest fees were.
You had a broken Macbook, a broken iPhone 5s and a Apple iPhone case that is falling apart, and you say thta Apple pricing vs. quality isn't an issue? True, their support is great, but really...you're own experience doesn't support the quality claim.
I have a nearly three year old MacBook Air that has been used very, very extensively, and the trackpad, while still working was not clicking down properly. So they replaced it. Having used and worked on many, many Windows laptops over the years I can tell you that none of them would have held up this well to the use my MBA has gotten. It looks nearly new, except for some scratching where I've tossed it around, and some wear on the keys from my typing. Which, by the way the Genius Bar rep said they would replace if the letters would have actually come off.
My iPhone, while working was exhibiting some issues with the sensor touch on the home key. After running diagnostics that were less than conclusive, and pointed to potential software issues (corrupt profile) as much as hardware issues the rep decided to err on the side of caution and replace the phone. I'll also say that, when you sell 51 million phones, some of them could potentially have issues from the factory. It's the nature of electronics.
The case got snagged on something while I was carrying it in my pocket. While the piece that broke is of somewhat questionable design, the case had held up better than any other case I've owned, given the abuse it saw on an almost daily basis. As it should, for $39.
So, in essence you took my original post and made assumptions, and mischaracterized what I said.
And it's your. Not you're.
About time..
Apple whats the money, but are getting 'knocked' because better stores sell them cheaper..
Its like saying "I'm gonna reduce the price of the $40-$50 monster HDMI cables, because Apple is beating the crap out of us by selling it for $20"
Apple whats the money, but are getting 'knocked' because better stores sell them cheaper..
Its like saying "I'm gonna reduce the price of the $40-$50 monster HDMI cables, because Apple is beating the crap out of us by selling it for $20"
What makes you say that? If it is too expensive, how would that hurt competitors selling different tablets and phones? Quite the opposite.
And there's the minor point that you stick a Lightning cable directly into your iPad or iPhone, so if that cable or what's connected to it is rubbish and carries high voltages for example, they go directly into your iPad and iPhone. Guess who they will come running and complaining to that their iPad died... Not the guy in China who built cheap stuff that killed your iPad, but Apple.
I'm on the ebay/China lightning cable band wagon. I can buy 20 cables instead of 1 oem, so who cares if 3 or 4 don't work the rest last only half as long, it's still cheaper than Apple.
This reminds me a lot of how Apple was able to get people to start paying for music again with affordable pricing. Get a clue Apple and learn from your own success.
This reminds me a lot of how Apple was able to get people to start paying for music again with affordable pricing. Get a clue Apple and learn from your own success.
Lightnin'
The toughest thing to take about this whole lightning cable issue is to support family members who use these Apple devices and won't hear otherwise when you are personally seasoned to know better. The micro-USB connector was good enough for the rest of the industry, so why not Apple? I think the reason is relatively obvious, even for those here who make it hobby to usher complainers on with shame while urging them to graciously accept what Apple does and for any reason.
Personally, I really wish someone would come up with a class action lawsuit against what's been done with these lightning cables, considering the fact that they worked well with iOS6 and somehow magically became a danger so large that iOS7 jumped out and stopped them from feeding any charging current into the phone any longer. The debate could go on but we all know good and well that the danger was - the danger was because Apple didn't have that $20 check for each as they tricked off the Chinese assembly line.
My main call for a class action would be along these terms - they worked well on iOS6 and not iOS7 and they stopped working all due to Apple trying to rake in cash while forming a trust over something as basic and simple as a charging cable, something that had never been attempted before and something that the industry and consumer has somehow allowed them to get away with.
From someone with over 40 years experience in Consumer Electronics, I know well that if people purchased "Monster Cables" for decades, paying 4 to 10 times more than they had to for products that were frequently inferior to their much cheaper competitors, Apple has enough people following the tune of their flute to also pay the $30 or whatever number they pull out of the sky from a marketing research project and the fans will always be happy and continue to pay.
My argument is, if the flute followers want to pay $30 for this cable from Apple or $20 from Amazon who funnels the toll fee to Apple, please let them. At the same time I'd ask Apple to stop with the dirty tricks of blocking their bastardization of one of the most simple interface cables ever developed, a two wire serial with power feed and one that worked perfectly on their iOS a short release ago - one they are today blocking simply because the chip at the end of the cable doesn't know today's "secret code". There was actually no need for such a low level trick as trumping up their iOS7 to stop cables from working where the $20 toll had not paid, because fans will always do what Apple says - it's only the techies who offer resistance while doing what is technically and economically feasible from a price and effort perspective, as opposed to a release of all thought and will to a marketing plan.
The tune of the flute remains strong and Apple followers will continue to march as directed, and with Apple trusting in this confidence, Apple should let those who want to use other charging cables do so. And while they are at it, why not just use what everyone else uses, a micro-USB cable on your next device? If you want to add a 25 conductor cable to the side for your own accessories, then by all means, do so.
The toughest thing to take about this whole lightning cable issue is to support family members who use these Apple devices and won't hear otherwise when you are personally seasoned to know better. The micro-USB connector was good enough for the rest of the industry, so why not Apple? I think the reason is relatively obvious, even for those here who make it hobby to usher complainers on with shame while urging them to graciously accept what Apple does and for any reason.
Personally, I really wish someone would come up with a class action lawsuit against what's been done with these lightning cables, considering the fact that they worked well with iOS6 and somehow magically became a danger so large that iOS7 jumped out and stopped them from feeding any charging current into the phone any longer. The debate could go on but we all know good and well that the danger was - the danger was because Apple didn't have that $20 check for each as they tricked off the Chinese assembly line.
My main call for a class action would be along these terms - they worked well on iOS6 and not iOS7 and they stopped working all due to Apple trying to rake in cash while forming a trust over something as basic and simple as a charging cable, something that had never been attempted before and something that the industry and consumer has somehow allowed them to get away with.
From someone with over 40 years experience in Consumer Electronics, I know well that if people purchased "Monster Cables" for decades, paying 4 to 10 times more than they had to for products that were frequently inferior to their much cheaper competitors, Apple has enough people following the tune of their flute to also pay the $30 or whatever number they pull out of the sky from a marketing research project and the fans will always be happy and continue to pay.
My argument is, if the flute followers want to pay $30 for this cable from Apple or $20 from Amazon who funnels the toll fee to Apple, please let them. At the same time I'd ask Apple to stop with the dirty tricks of blocking their bastardization of one of the most simple interface cables ever developed, a two wire serial with power feed and one that worked perfectly on their iOS a short release ago - one they are today blocking simply because the chip at the end of the cable doesn't know today's "secret code". There was actually no need for such a low level trick as trumping up their iOS7 to stop cables from working where the $20 toll had not paid, because fans will always do what Apple says - it's only the techies who offer resistance while doing what is technically and economically feasible from a price and effort perspective, as opposed to a release of all thought and will to a marketing plan.
The tune of the flute remains strong and Apple followers will continue to march as directed, and with Apple trusting in this confidence, Apple should let those who want to use other charging cables do so. And while they are at it, why not just use what everyone else uses, a micro-USB cable on your next device? If you want to add a 25 conductor cable to the side for your own accessories, then by all means, do so.
According to that article, originally Apple wanted to ask 10% of the retail price... but settled on taking a percentage of the wholesale.
I wonder if they later switched to a fixed fee so that their own complaints about cell phone royalty fees - also based on device price - wouldn't look so hypocritical.