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Apple's Lightning to 30-Pin Adapter Begins Shipping

I can't wait until these are in hand for those that need them

$40 iHome Alarm Clocks will once again be useful.

If you have a real car and tell them you have a new iPhone 5. My local BMW dealership installed a firmware update and my Bluetooth works as intended.

As for those with speaker system updates; Upgrade to a speaker with AirPlay. You'll be happy with the only restriction being the area reach of your wifi.

I understand that a $700 investment should be backwards compatible. But, it isn't. So adapt.
 
haruhiko said:
:eek: $3 for the cables? Seriously?
I have a thousand of them to sell to you @ $3
huge profit :D
Click to expand...

And what is your warranty / replacement policy like on those?
How many countries are they legal for sale in?
Are they all Pb free?
What is your recycling program like, are you committed to reducing e-waste?
What were the labor conditions like in the facilities where these cables were manufactured?
Are they individually packaged for resale?
Do you cover shipping?

So are you still making a huge profit at $3 a pop if you're Apple and you actually have to worry about answering those types of questions?

Do you look at all of the products around you and assume that the difference between the cost of raw materials contained in those products and their full suggested retail price is the profit margin attained by the manufacturer?
 
AppleScruff1 said:
What kind of bag does everyone use to carry around all the Apple adapters?
Click to expand...
cableguy4.jpg

http://www.sfbags.com/products/cableguy/cableguy.htm
:D
 
repoman27 said:
Yes. There are thousands of posts like yours, and not one single cogent argument substantiating this conjecture.
Click to expand...

Perhaps because you missed the point? People do not care how much they cost to make, they care that they need to give this company another 30-40 dollars to make their phone work on accessories that have worked for the past several years. Money invested in the MFI ecosystem. Existing accessories will not work without this component.

Now given they make ample margin on the phone itself, it would seem logical to the end user that this is indeed a "cash grab" when one could assume apple absorb the cost and include one at no cost as an included accessory with the phone.

Capiche?
 
SpyderBite said:
If you have a real car and tell them you have a new iPhone 5. My local BMW dealership installed a firmware update and my Bluetooth works as intended.
Click to expand...

My real car doesn't have firmware or bluetooth. It does have a 12k lb winch, on board air compressor and a roll bar. Pretty sure it's real. Iphone 5 works great through the 3.5 audio cable....
 
Last edited:
bababooie said:
My real car doesn't have firmware or bluetooth. It does have a 12k lb winch, on board air compressor and a roll bar. Pretty sure it's real. Iphone 5 works great through the 3.5 audio cable....
Click to expand...

Your car doesn't have firmware?!?!?! Where the hell have you been living the last 7 years while buying a car w/o firmware?!?!?!
 
Fruit Cake said:
Perhaps because you missed the point? People do not care how much they cost to make, they care that they need to give this company another 30-40 dollars to make their phone work on accessories that have worked for the past several years. Money invested in the MFI ecosystem. Existing accessories will not work without this component.

Now given they make ample margin on the phone itself, it would seem logical to the end user that this is indeed a "cash grab" when one could assume apple absorb the cost and include one at no cost as an included accessory with the phone.

Capiche?
Click to expand...

No. I don't capiche.

I understand that some people would like to be able to use legacy accessories with their new phone and may require an adapter to do so. However, I also understand that the only 30-pin dock connector accessories that require this adapter are those that also lack USB, analog audio, WiFi / AirPlay, and Bluetooth connections. Also, the only people who need to give Apple $30-40 are the early adopters who can't wait a couple months for 3rd party alternatives.

I don't follow the logic that because Apple has a healthy margin on the iPhone 5, they should give away an adapter that many people don't need instead of trying to sell it in order to recoup some of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent developing the Lightning interface. Because they are the only supplier for a product that is constrained by supply, they should give it away for free as opposed to charging what the market will bear? They didn't have to make these adapters at all, but since they did, don't you think it's pretty normal to try to sell them just like any other product, for a profit? How is this different than any standard business practice?

And why go through the effort of making a highly (if not over) engineered proprietary interface when they could have gone with a much lower-cost / higher-margin alternative? Isn't this more indicative of Apple wanting to provide the best possible solution for their customers, rather than simply maximize profits? I mean, if Apple hasn't offset the development costs for lightning yet, then keeping the 30-pin dock connector would have been more of a "cash grab" would it not?
 
To all of you complaining about the EU's decision to require Apple provide an adapter to micro-USB. You should note that before the EU mandate on micro-USB every single ****** manufacturer would produce a variant of a charging adapter that would require you to buy their cable and their accessories.

The EU was actually looking out for the consumer and saving "YOU" money and actually preventing "waste". It is more wasteful to have 50 different charging cables you must toss each new phone you buy.

Samsung alone had over 5 different charging cables for different phone models at one time. And don't think that the EU were the only one's complaining. The carriers moaned for ages about this but they kept shoving this "*****" down their throat with each new phone model so they could keep the 3rd party providers on their toes and one step behind in order to ensure they sold their own cables first.

Motorola used to include a chip on their micro-usb chargers that their phones would look for and if it didn't detect the presence of the chip in the charger it wouldn't charge the phone no matter what.... this ensured you could never use a third party adapter with any of their phones.

These practices were abandoned in large part due to regulations like those imposed by the EU and in lesser part to appease the various global carriers.

The consumer was always considered "screwable" by each and every manufacturer.... Oh and by the way.... the highest margins are found on accessories. It's literally free money for a manufacturer.... always has been and always will be.

So yes, as a technologist and a product developer of the very smart phones you all know and love.... i whole heartedly agree the practice that apple is endorsing with this transition to "lightning" is unfair to the consumer and wasteful in general.

The EU requiring standards for charging cables is fantastic.... this way you don't have to toss out perfectly good infrastructure (like charging cables) in your home just to buy a new phone. It also fosters competition and enables broader consumer choice...

Just imagine if every time you bought a new microwave or toaster you needed a new wall socked to fit the plug on the power cord. Oh and that wall socket was only provided by the manufacturer of the toaster.... and had to be professionally installed by a licensed technician who pays enormous dues to the manufacturer to be licensed.... who then passes those charges on to "you" (the consumer).

So please... stop bitching and moaning about the EU and thank your freaking stars that at least one form of government out there is actually looking out for the consumer.... you won't find any such help like that here in the "Free Market" of the USA.
 
repoman27 said:
No. I don't capiche.

I understand that some people would like to be able to use legacy accessories with their new phone and may require an adapter to do so. However, I also understand that the only 30-pin dock connector accessories that require this adapter are those that also lack USB, analog audio, WiFi / AirPlay, and Bluetooth connections. Also, the only people who need to give Apple $30-40 are the early adopters who can't wait a couple months for 3rd party alternatives.

I don't follow the logic that because Apple has a healthy margin on the iPhone 5, they should give away an adapter that many people don't need instead of trying to sell it in order to recoup some of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent developing the Lightning interface. Because they are the only supplier for a product that is constrained by supply, they should give it away for free as opposed to charging what the market will bear? They didn't have to make these adapters at all, but since they did, don't you think it's pretty normal to try to sell them just like any other product, for a profit? How is this different than any standard business practice?

And why go through the effort of making a highly (if not over) engineered proprietary interface when they could have gone with a much lower-cost / higher-margin alternative? Isn't this more indicative of Apple wanting to provide the best possible solution for their customers, rather than simply maximize profits? I mean, if Apple hasn't offset the development costs for lightning yet, then keeping the 30-pin dock connector would have been more of a "cash grab" would it not?
Click to expand...

Then you're alone on this one bud.. Sorry but I and others don't share your view.
 
repoman27 said:
There is zero evidence that would lead any rational person to believe that the full retail prices that Apple has set for their Lightning accessories are in any way excessive. At this point, there have been hundreds of blog posts and articles published about these adapters and cables, spawning thousands of reader comments denouncing Apple's abusively high margins and deliberate strategy to introduce a new interface merely to extort more money out of their loyal customers. I have not seen any posts about AT&T raising their upgrade fee from $20 to $36 for the iPhone 5. The media is punishing an innovative company for updating a proprietary interface that they have nursed along for 9 years now, and ignoring the fact that the carriers have booked over 14 billion dollars in three weeks for doing what exactly?

I did not need to buy an extra cable from Apple, but I did because it serves an actual purpose. I was required to pay the $36 upgrade fee, for which AT&T provided me with a nano-SIM registered to their network so that they can continue to bill me. People are complaining that Apple's adapters were not available upon the iPhone's release. Why are there so many fewer complaints about carriers not having LTE rolled out in time for the iPhone 5 launch? It is no coincidence that AT&T announced its plans for 54 new LTE markets in the first week of September. Apple is clearly pushing them to hold up their end of the bargain and support this new device that just made them a couple billion dollars in a few short weeks.

Apple is like a kid who gets straight A's but is being punished harshly for every little mistake that they make, while the carriers are getting a pass because they are such underachievers that nobody really expects anything of them. Why does Apple's ability to maintain healthy profit margins make them the target of such derision, while AT&T gets a free pass to raise their prices for the crap service that they provide?

Clearly you're not a financial consultant, or you would realize that these adapters cost Apple more than 35¢ to produce, and that they have in no way even begun to recoup the investment they made in developing the Lightning interface. But without a single shred of evidence that supports the notion that Apple is overcharging for these adapters, you are prepared to boycott them to the death. That's sane. And good luck finding the OEM that does charge what you deem to be fair prices for all of the handset accessories they produce.
Click to expand...

Precisely! APPLE is being scrutinized to death for every little thing no matter how small or insignificant, real or imagined. It seems the better designed and more appealing a company's products are, the more perfection we seem to expect from them. Those with mediocre products/services DO seem to get a pass. It's lonely at the top.
 
Fruit Cake said:
Then you're alone on this one bud.. Sorry but I and others don't share your view.
Click to expand...

No, he's not alone on this one.

----------
kas23 said:
And Apple has purposely retarded the development and production of 3rd party Lightening-enabled iPhone accessories too. So people have no choice but to buy these adaptors if they want to use iPhone accessories. If Apple had enabled 3rd party accessory makers to get their Lightening accessories to market, Apple would have lost money.
Click to expand...

I missed the part where Apple forced you to buy an iPhone5. You, and all the other complainers, knew there was a new dock connector. You knew it'd require an adapter. You could have used your current iPhone and waited until aftermarket cables and adapters appeared before buying an iPhone5, but you didn't. Take responsibility for your own actions.
 
Whatever the phone needs for it to work, it comes bundled in the box. You want the adapter cos you invested in accessories that worked with previous models. This problem is yours really, not Apple's.
 
rdlink said:
Great socialist philosophy. They're not saving anyone money. They're redistributing wealth per their idea of what the division should be. And yes, I really hope they are all damned to Hell.
Click to expand...

There's nothing inherently wrong with socialism. We are socialist when we treat everyone the same, ie with dignity and respect. There are human rights in place, the geneva convention that state everyone should be treated with a minimum level of respect. ie. there are rules in place to make sure everyone gets along and benefits. Sure people could go around murdering everyone and taking what they want, that's a free market right. No rules no regulations. Some people get to enjoy life more than others right? That's freedom.

Free market rules right, anything goes? The rich get richer. Point is some rules are worth following to benefit the greater good.
 
tdream said:
There's nothing inherently wrong with socialism. We are socialist when we treat everyone the same, ie with dignity and respect. There are human rights in place, the geneva convention that state everyone should be treated with a minimum level of respect. ie. there are rules in place to make sure everyone gets along and benefits. Sure people could go around murdering everyone and taking what they want, that's a free market right. No rules no regulations. Some people get to enjoy life more than others right? That's freedom.

Free market rules right, anything goes? The rich get richer. Point is some rules are worth following to benefit the greater good.
Click to expand...


Many would disagree with you. The flip side of Socialism is that the State decides what rights you get, how much money you must give them, what you learn in their free schools, what kind of food you eat, what wars you must fight, who you should vote for... you're essentially a drone on a large human farm who produces for the 1%. They have a monopoly on legalized violence and force and those at the top are accountable to no one. You get that in the US too, but it's a little easier to recognize and live outside the system, so to speak, at least somewhat.

So how 'bout that adapter?
 
Fruit Cake said:
Then you're alone on this one bud.. Sorry but I and others don't share your view.
Click to expand...

He's far from alone. He made a very good and logical point.

If you want to explain why you think he's wrong, that's cool. But your only rebuttal was to say (incorrectly) that he's 'alone' on that.
 
repoman27 said:
No. I don't capiche.

I understand that some people would like to be able to use legacy accessories with their new phone and may require an adapter to do so. However, I also understand that the only 30-pin dock connector accessories that require this adapter are those that also lack USB, analog audio, WiFi / AirPlay, and Bluetooth connections. Also, the only people who need to give Apple $30-40 are the early adopters who can't wait a couple months for 3rd party alternatives.

I don't follow the logic that because Apple has a healthy margin on the iPhone 5, they should give away an adapter that many people don't need instead of trying to sell it in order to recoup some of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent developing the Lightning interface. Because they are the only supplier for a product that is constrained by supply, they should give it away for free as opposed to charging what the market will bear? They didn't have to make these adapters at all, but since they did, don't you think it's pretty normal to try to sell them just like any other product, for a profit? How is this different than any standard business practice?

And why go through the effort of making a highly (if not over) engineered proprietary interface when they could have gone with a much lower-cost / higher-margin alternative? Isn't this more indicative of Apple wanting to provide the best possible solution for their customers, rather than simply maximize profits? I mean, if Apple hasn't offset the development costs for lightning yet, then keeping the 30-pin dock connector would have been more of a "cash grab" would it not?
Click to expand...

Right.

The iPhone 5 is way too cheap, and way too many people can afford it.
People who afterwards can't afford to change their freshly bought TV, radio, docks, cars etc. and who want an adaptor, and a cheap one !

The iPhone 5 should priced at 1000 $ at least, why not 2000$, so it would remain in the hands of real alpha people who won't care for the money.
I am mad that Apple let's cheap people own iPhones, devaluating our image.
We need a high-priced phone that not everyone can afford.
 
I need an adapter because I paid to have a cord in my car to plug my iphone into. Now, I need an adapter. Mine is not showing shipped yet, has anyone elses shipped yet?
 
CSpackler said:
Many would disagree with you. The flip side of Socialism is that the State decides what rights you get, how much money you must give them, what you learn in their free schools, what kind of food you eat, what wars you must fight, who you should vote for... you're essentially a drone on a large human farm who produces for the 1%. They have a monopoly on legalized violence and force and those at the top are accountable to no one. You get that in the US too, but it's a little easier to recognize and live outside the system, so to speak, at least somewhat.

So how 'bout that adapter?
Click to expand...

Adapter bad, mini-usb good. I have a tonne of mini-usb cables and interfaces so it saves me a lot of money buying adapters that have no functional advantage.

Luckily I covered myself saying some rules are worth following, not all. In this case it is one worth following. Most ideas taken to the extreme like in the examples you gave are not worth following. The funny thing is the top 1% like to treat the rest of the population exactly as you described :D
 
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