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Apple's iOS 7 Lightning Connector Authentication Check 'Permanently' Cracked

Until Apple decides $20 is unreasonable for a charging cable, I have no shame in buying knockoffs. If I were to have purchased all genuine Apple Lightning cables for all the chargers around my house and in my car, I'd have spent ~$120, not including the USB chargers.

The argument of "You get what you pay for" is not really useful either. I've been using said cables for months and they have no signs of abnormal wear, nor have they spontaneously combusted, or whatever some people believe will happen to them. Good for the company who cracked the authentication code for iOS 7. Apple's current pricing system is an absolute money-making sham.
 
dennno said:
Seriously they could have diverted all this effort to "crack" the authentication to refining their product to become an approved accessory provider.

Why would people bother buying this? If they have to bypass the authentication then something is clearly wrong with this cheap Chinese product.
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Apple is stonewalling Chinese companies regardless of their legitimacy. FiiO being a prime example. They have explicitly stated they were denied for the MiFi program.
 
their site is down right now, but from what i remember, after shipping these knockoff cables came out to around $10.

monoprice sells apple-approved lightning cables for around $10.

so... why bother buying these?
 
I have some of the original "knock-off" lightning cables and they work fine. I think they cost me around $3 apiece and they're virtually identical to Apple's lightning cable. Those knock-off cables are great for anyone who doesn't like paying $30 for $3 worth of wiring.

Normally, I side with Apple on the whole IP debate, but not where gouging the customer over add-ons is concerned. It's my iPad and I'll plug it into whatever I like. :p If I brick or destroy my iPad by using a knock-off cable, that's not Apple's fault, it's mine. That's entirely my choice to make.
 
The issue here isn't that people will buy them the issue really is that the cord is not even cheaper, nor is it more easily accessible. The only advanatage to buying these cables is that they come in various colors. Which quite frankly, so should the Apple OEM ones. Maybe not an array of colors but is it not reasonable to assume the black phone would come with a black cable? and the blue ipod come with a blue ipod cable? Why not use thread to reinforce the cable? why can apple not be the one's to advance their cable in not just capability but in quality and appeal, after all the cord is $30.
 
Slix said:
Watch, now the cracked cables won't work with the next version of the iOS 7 beta because Apple will crack down on it again. :rolleyes:
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Jsameds said:
They should have waited until the final version of iOS 7 was released as Apple now have a perfect opportunity to work around the workaround.
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It clearly states it's a hardware hack, not a software hack. This means Apple'd have to replace their own hardware to combat the problem. (if you can call it that- maybe Apple should play by regulations and have a mini- or micro-USB port such as the EU requires [unless I'm mistaken, in which case I retract my statement])
 
mykelefty said:
their site is down right now, but from what i remember, after shipping these knockoff cables came out to around $10.

monoprice sells apple-approved lightning cables for around $10.

so... why bother buying these?
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They'll likely sell their crack to other companies who make things besides cables.
 
gamrin said:
It's my iPad and I'll plug it into whatever I like. :p If I brick or destroy my iPad by using a knock-off cable, that's not Apple's fault, it's mine. That's entirely my choice to make.
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And how many people do you think buy knock-off cables, destroy their iPad, and then get Apple to replace it under warranty?
 
forty2j said:
And how many people do you think buy knock-off cables, destroy their iPad, and then get Apple to replace it under warranty?
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That's got to have happened so few times as to be a rounding error in the number of returns Apple has received, compared to issues of their own doing like scuffed chamfered edges and the iPhone4 antennagate. Surely the cost of implementing drm chips in each and every wire has cost them (and therefore, us) more than those few returns. This is about licensing fees pure and simple.
 
dennno said:
If they have to bypass the authentication then something is clearly wrong with this cheap Chinese product.
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No, something is wrong with Apple's outrageous licensing fees. No one wants to pay that ransom.

The problem is on Apple's end.
 
forty2j said:
And how many people do you think buy knock-off cables, destroy their iPad, and then get Apple to replace it under warranty?
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Extremely few. Do you have any evidence that there are a high number of these types of returns? I'm not saying that such a thing doesn't happen, but it's certainly not something you see reported about as a problem...

The assumption that, somehow, Apple's Chinese sweatshops somehow put out higher-quality cables is pretty specious. There's virtually no difference between Apple's cables and most unlicensed cables.
 
jannevr said:
It clearly states it's a hardware hack, not a software hack. This means Apple'd have to replace their own hardware to combat the problem. (if you can call it that- maybe Apple should play by regulations and have a mini- or micro-USB port such as the EU requires [unless I'm mistaken, in which case I retract my statement])
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Bear in mind those guys are promoting a product, so of course they will tell you exactly what you want to hear. Whether there is any truth to what they say, remains to be seen.
 
Mr Fusion said:
...Also different sizes. 3 Meter cables are essential when staying at a hotel with no outlet right next to the bed. ;)
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Amen. I you need to recharge your devices at work in various offices or conference rooms, at home, in airports, hotels etc, the short cables are often just not long enough.
 
gamrin said:
Extremely few. Do you have any evidence that there are a high number of these types of returns? I'm not saying that such a thing doesn't happen, but it's certainly not something you see reported about as a problem...
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I don't have numbers. But it's a pretty fair guess that people willing to risk buying cracked cables are also willing to try to get Apple to replace their device if something goes wrong.

gamrin said:
The assumption that, somehow, Apple's Chinese sweatshops somehow put out higher-quality cables is pretty specious. There's virtually no difference between Apple's cables and most unlicensed cables.
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Eh, I've got a fairly long history of poor / failed sweatshop 30-pin cables. Fortunately none destroyed the device. But it seems to me that the risk would be greater on a connector with a more complex design and with "spoofing" required.
 
Apple could prevent all this by just charging a reasonable price for their cables.
PROBLEM SOLVED!
 
bad03xtreme said:
I still dont see the point of this notification other than to annoy folks.
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Makes me wonder; maybe it's just to add strength to Apple's approval program (which does carry some consumer quality benefits, as well as working conditions supposedly).

It's not all that new, really (but for new reasons): similar warnings appeared with many 30-pin cables/devices for years. I still see such warnings sometimes with my 30-pin Griffin car kit and Logitech boombox. In those cases, I believe it's specifically because cell signals may cause audio interference with certain devices. (True enough.) But why is that really worth a pop-up?


gamrin said:
...
The assumption that, somehow, Apple's Chinese sweatshops somehow put out higher-quality cables is pretty specious. There's virtually no difference between Apple's cables and most unlicensed cables.
Click to expand...

If that's the case, they may as well just get approved by Apple. Apple provides marketing value in return: people trust that the Apple badge means the thing is compatible. They'd sell more.
 
Everyone loves to bash Apple for being control-freaks and you know what, in this situation, the bashing is justified.
 
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