I was never arguing it didn't. And it's fine to like what you like, but when has Apple ever been in the business to cater to the individual?
Exactly whom are they catering to? That is the real question and that is the question that will determine if Apple is still around in ten years time. Apple has traditionally shown contempt (via Mr. Jobs in the past) for feedback, outside opinions, etc. and so what you got was what Jobs wanted (Isn't there a modified Roger Waters' song called "What Jobs Wants?"
("What Jobs wants, Jobs gets Jobs help us all! What Jobs wants! Jobs Gets!")
But NOW, Jobs is DEAD. Exactly whose vision of Apple products are we seeing today? I don't think it's Tim Cooks. I'm not sure why Jobs chose him, but I suspect it had to do with continuing the Jobs vision (as Cook has NO vision of his own that I can see, other than pleasing stock investors with buybacks, splits and dividends, things that Jobs would have crapped his pants over). Is it Mr. Ives' vision? Maybe, but WTF does he have to do with the Jobs legacy? He was a pitbull on a leash before and now he's running wild. The problem is that he's just conforming to what everyone else is doing (Everyone else wants FLAT? Let's give them flat too!) Jobs would never got for that. Jobs would get what Jobs wants and make the world love it, not the other way around. He was a leader, not a follower. Ive is a follower. Cook is a follower and more comfortable with finance decisions than creative ones.
This brings us back to the Lightning connector. I see it as a two-fold existence. It had reasons for coming into existence (thinner phones, reversible connector and selling lots and lots of high-profit accessories by changing an existing "standard" for iOS devices). It should have been USB 3.x type speeds from Day 1. That would have solved a lot of problems. But people are in denial that there ever was/is a problem. "People don't sync their phones over wires anymore so it doesn't matter! Get in the cloud! It's cloudy out! Clouds rain on you; don't rain on their silver lining!" Yeah, well WiFi sync is a nice option to have, but you have to charge your device anyway, so why not have a secure HIGH SPEED sync while you're at it at the end of the day? Apple had Gigabit STANDARD when most PCs didn't even have Ethernet built-in for Jobs's sake! Why didn't Apple ever move up to 10 or 100 Giga? Oh, now we have Thunderbolt so we don't need it, but hardly anyone is using that for high speed networking. Everything is CONSUMER GRADE. Well, that's what PCs were in 2001 when my Power Mac was built with built-in Firewire 400 and Gigabit with dual-CPUs. It was easy to open and access (no screwdrivers needed to open the case). It was sweet looking for a tower case. Now what do we have? A trashcan design (it's different; I'll give you that) that went back to non-standard video port connectors, no internal expansion (a PRO tower should be portable without carrying a mish-mash tangle of wires around), etc. all just to look different. There's nothing wrong with different as long as it's still functional. But when your "different" is JUST TO BE DIFFERENT and avoids a STANDARD for differential sake, you're just isolating yourself and the Windows fanboys are laughing their arses off at how stupid the Mac/iPad Pro, whatever has become.
Cook is like "Macs and PCs are different" to explain why the iPad Pro is a great piece of hardware driven by a PHONE operating system. It doesn't have to have desktop OS X, but only an idiot would think that a phone OS is "good enough" for something that is clearly meant to be an alternative to a Macbook. People claim that it takes too much effort to make a "Universal" App that has two different GUIs for a "hybrid" setup like Windows 10 on a Surface Book, but what's the alternative? Having to build TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT APPS to work on two incompatible devices AND having to buy the two hardware devices (more $$$) to boot. I'm sorry, but that argument alone speaks to why Tim Cook is going to ruin Apple and why he should be removed immediately. There are lots of little things too. No eraser on their "pencil", no place to park the pencil on the iPad Pro. Why upgrade that Lightning port to USB 3.x speeds and have it be USB 3 on the other end on a giant arse device? Why not just use a USB 3 or USB-C port on it? Then you won't need freaking adapters to connect USB devices to it! That's the point! That's the difference between having a STANDARD and having a POINTLESS non-conforming propriety format that does the same damn thing. Maybe you can argue for a proprietary port or connector for this razor thin iPhone you want, but it's not needed on the iPad Pro or the new keyboards or mice Apple just introduced. Use standards where you are able to and use custom crap only when necessary because there is no alternative.
Tim wants people to write better apps for the iPad Pro. Why should they? It's more work for a non-existent market. But if
every Macbook could be reversed into a tablet mode, there would be ONE HELL of an incentive to offer a tablet mode. Microsoft cannot control what 3rd party vendors offer in terms of notebooks or tablets or hybrids, but Apple controls 100% of the Mac/iOS products out there. That means if they say hybrid Macbook tablet, EVERYONE will have one that wants to use OS X mobile products in the future and whether or not they actually USE the tablet mode doesn't matter. What matters to developers is that they have a potential audience for that interface that they don't have with a product that no one uses and few know what they would do with it other than watch movies on a nice high resolution screen.
If anything, it is Apple that should have gone hybrid, not Microsoft because Apple controls the entire ecosystem and that means it could actually work and work well. Microsoft has its hands tied halfway with limited control over anything done in terms of hardware. That's why they suddenly are making their own devices because the 3rd party mantra is don't rock the boat until after it sinks.
If Apple wants to INNOVATE, they need to do it with new products and concepts that challenge the norm, not make pointless connector changes that cheese people off by having to buy $20, $40 and even $80 adapters for everything they do. I was against USB-C when it first came out because that's what it appeared to be doing, just changing the port to fix a few minor things like reversibility that isn't worth buying $30 adapters over. But what got me behind it is the Thunderbolt III + USB 3.x combination port that literally does everything you can imagine. And while Thunderbolt itself never struck me as all that big a deal either (it's mostly been a high speed hard drive standard for people with RAID setups, etc., but we already had eSata so....), but Thunderbolt III is not only fast enough now to contend with many internal PCI speeds, but it's standardized to put everything easily external (i.e. a Macbook or PC notebook with Thunderbolt III can dock with ONE wire to a hub with a graphics card in it and be a full blown gaming/video editing desktop power house on the desk and a notebook you can take with you by unplugging ONE wire. Now THAT is an innovative change. It just killed the traditional desktop! You won't need a desktop, just a hub and monitor(s) and whatever keyboard/mice/trackpads you might want on that desk and you just sent the Macbook down and connect ONE wire and you're done! Awesome.
Apple will HATE it, though because it means less hardware to sell you. And THAT is the REAL reason Mr. Cook doesn't want to go hybrid. The weight arguments, etc. are all just technical limtations that will be gone in a few years as things ever get faster and lighter and more powerful. No, Tim Cook doesn't want to go hybrid because it means LESS SALES by basically wiping out most of the need for separate devices. If you have a Macbook Air that is also an iPad Pro and high-end iMac with the addition of a monitor and hub, WTF would you spend 2x-4x as much for multiple devices duplicating those services? You wouldn't. You now have 3 devices in one with very little compromise in terms of hardware (slight weight thing that will go away in short order). All you need is something to TIE it together and that is a PROPER ecosystem where hybrid <> crap. I'm not saying there wouldn't be some growing pains along the way, but Microsoft didn't get to the Surface Book in one year either. Apple is selling out their own future to make more profit in the short term. It will cost them in the long run as will every decision like holding onto this lightning connector in areas where they should already be moving to USB-C in anticipation for it taking over the industry for at least the next 5-10 years. The new Apple mouse and keyboard and iPad Pro should have all been USB-C, PERIOD. You can argue about a thinner phone, but use standards where standards make sense. Don't rip off your customers by forcing them to buy adapters and the like as they will resent it (look back to the title of the thread; "...New Adapters in the Works." If everything is going to USB-C, move it and move it now. The "Hub" can have the old connectors on it to transition.
So your position is that USB-C will replace all other connectors until the end of time? Good to know.
I don't recall saying until the end of time. That IS a LONG time. But I think it's a fair bet this connector or an updated version of it will be around for the next 5-10 years, probably longer. Look how long the standard USB connector has been around now (17+ years and counting).
