Did anybody find out what Lightning actually is?

[blanka]

It is nice (read completely frustrating) that Apple comes up with a new connector, but did anyone take some time to test it or dig through the patents to see what it really is?

My thought is that it is just USB 2 in a different package. By using 8 tips, you can mirror the 4 USB pins in a way the way of insertion does not matter.

Please help me with any tech info on this weird new plug.

 

[reputationZed]

Id say USB is a pretty good bet. The original 30 pin was designed around firewire. My guess is that when Apple switched from FW to USB they retained the 30 pin design for compatability and there being no real need for a smaller conector. The desire to shrink the package while increasing or at least maintaing battery life means we have reached the point where getting rid od unused pins outweighs the value of compatibility.

 

[Daveoc64]

Of course it's USB!