Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller on NFC, Wireless Charging and the Lightning Connector
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
NFC will be the missing feature. Don't believe it would have been difficult to include. And how "Passbook" will help me paying in a taxi or bus . Or allow to get a drink out of a vending machine. So continue hoping to get it in iPhone 6 in two years ...
NFC is insecure. There is already a hack where the attacker can hack your phone using NFC by just standing near you. No other connection with the phone needed. How cool is that!
I suspect that Apple will not use NFC and will instead use an optical approach. The shop keeper or taxi cab carries an optical scanner and when you pay the bill you display the necessary information in a code on the display, kind of like the mobile device boarding passes we use now.
Regarding wireless charging, I agree with many others. I don't see the use of it. Using the cable is not that hard and then I can use the phone (or iPad) while it is charging.
The black iphone should also have a black lightning cable. Btw: the name is stupid. Do you say: 'where is my lightning cable?'
With that many things to plug the iPhone into I'd probably just leave the adaptor plugged into the phone or carry it around with me rather than buying a load of them.
You still would need to connect the charger with a cable, and the iPhone counterpart would need to be significantly larger and far more expensive than the lightning connector. It may be cool, but it wouldn't be practical for the masses.
NFC isn't really that great. For it to be worthwhile you have to make it work for all the existing standards, so it has to work in London, Amsterdam, Delhi, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka etc. etc. doing anything else would be logistically impossible as each city would need its own model of iPhone.
And the whole thing even in one city doesn't sound that useful - you can't go out without your iPhone, which means if you go to a gig you have to take it (which might be a bit silly) and means you can't leave it at home to charge when you go out. Additionally you have to massively improve the build of the iPhone to take being slammed down on the sensors over and over.
If you don't make it work with the existing deployments of this technology it doesn't sound very useful.
To quote Samsung's CEO, or maybe someone else:
Thunderbolt and lightning
very very frightening me
I'm sure you can get a MicroUSB to Lightning adapter. And that is all that is needed.
But USB 3 is backwards compatible, aren't the cables the same for USB 3 as for USB 2?
Dumb & Overkill?
Man, I'd love to sync my iTunes collection as fast as I can transfer data from my MBP to my Pegasus R6
Man, I'd love to sync my iTunes collection as fast as I can transfer data from my MBP to my Pegasus R6
I'm frankly surprised that they didn't go with USB 3.
The same with Mac mini no USB 3.0
*sarcasm* This is the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since the iPhone *end sarcasm*
That's pretty much all I really got out of today's event. I know that improvements are good and all but I really don't see this as news, anymore. This first iPhone, yes. The first iMac, yes. The first Intel Mac, yes. These incremental updates not so much.
I'm fine with this being news on Macrumors and other tech gadget sites but when this starts popping up on CNN or local cable news and they start reporting like it is news worthy (for instance, last night I caught a glimpse of a "news" story about how much is your old iPhone worth. Yes a local cable news outlet was really doing a story/report on that subject), I just want to pull out my eyes and ears.
That's pretty much all I really got out of today's event. I know that improvements are good and all but I really don't see this as news, anymore. This first iPhone, yes. The first iMac, yes. The first Intel Mac, yes. These incremental updates not so much.
I'm fine with this being news on Macrumors and other tech gadget sites but when this starts popping up on CNN or local cable news and they start reporting like it is news worthy (for instance, last night I caught a glimpse of a "news" story about how much is your old iPhone worth. Yes a local cable news outlet was really doing a story/report on that subject), I just want to pull out my eyes and ears.
Last edited:
Calling a USB 2.0 cable in 2012 'Lightning' is a bit ridiculous if you ask me.
'Slimline Dock Connector' would be better, but lightning-speed it is not.
'Slimline Dock Connector' would be better, but lightning-speed it is not.
Well, for my parking gate, in public transportation card (Prague OpenCard) and we have PayPass (or how you call it) system installed in a lot of supermarkets here in Czech Republic.
Everyone is missing a critical thing I think....
From what I have read on the tech specs for the iPhone 5 and iPod Touch 5th Gen the new Lightning Port does not support Video Out?!? Additionally, the $30 30-pin adapter does not support iPod or video out either. So what good is the adapter? What else do we dock our iPhone and iPods for?!?
Have I missed something?
From what I have read on the tech specs for the iPhone 5 and iPod Touch 5th Gen the new Lightning Port does not support Video Out?!? Additionally, the $30 30-pin adapter does not support iPod or video out either. So what good is the adapter? What else do we dock our iPhone and iPods for?!?
Have I missed something?
Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening... At least to the EU who want everyone to use micro USB.
I much prefer the Lightning connector as you can put it in either way.
I agree on the black cable for the black iPhone. I'd also like to see a textured surface on the plastic bit of the connectors so that they are easier to pull out of a tight USB port.
I much prefer the Lightning connector as you can put it in either way.
I agree on the black cable for the black iPhone. I'd also like to see a textured surface on the plastic bit of the connectors so that they are easier to pull out of a tight USB port.
Gimmicky huh ......And Siri?
Siri could be called gimmicky except for the fact that it actually has value. It is useful. It's not perfect but then it's pretty new tech. I expect the utility value of Siri will grow over time - the same can't be said for wireless charging.
Wireless charging doesn't really DO anything! I mean, to what extent does charging something by placing it on a flat surface really improve things compared to plugging it in? And there are obvious downsides: a) the mat takes up more space, b) the internal components add mass to the device, c) wireless charging is slow and d) you can't pick up and use the device without taking it off of charge which you can do with a cable.
You save a fraction of a second plugging in the device, sure, but then there are so many downsides the whole thing is just silly.
Now, when we have true wireless charging - the ability for a device to charge when within a few feet of a charging point - now THAT would be useful. But for small items that may never happen and, if it does, it'll be a few years from now.
NFC is marginally more useful and I'd have liked to see it included on the off chance that it came in handy but it was never a deal breaker for me. It would have been one of those 'good to have' bits that I would more than likely never use.
Does anybody having an experience, in how long it takes normally, until the keynote is online on apple's site? Thank you!!
I could see using it for groceries and the like. It just needs major adoption for it to work and if Apple implements it with some partners it could really take off. I think Passbook is an early look at what they want to do.