Manufactuers from iHome to Jawbone are pronouncing the dock dead. Did Apple just give away a huge Ace card in the accessories industry?
Everywhere in the world that I've been, I've found 30 Pin dock speakers in hotels. This was driven by the iPod monopoly and transitioned into the iPhone and iPad. With a market no longer dominated by one player, what incentive do accessory manufacturers have to build Lightning specific docks? Further, what incentive do these hotels have to replace those docks with Lightning speaker docks when the marketshare is shifting Apple to a secondary position?
In today's market where Android has caught up with iOS, it makes more sense for accessory makers to release device agnostic accessories but the established 30 Pin Dock connector industry made that difficult. Apple's decision to move to the brand new -- zero accessories on the market -- Lightning connector has evened the play field and it now seems that Accessory makers don't want to get caught in the same corner.
Will we see a Lighting connector industry pop up or will accessory makers go with wireless which can work with any device? Does this make AirPlay the new dock connector or will its expensive licensing fees push accessory makers to an industry standard that every device can support?
Everywhere in the world that I've been, I've found 30 Pin dock speakers in hotels. This was driven by the iPod monopoly and transitioned into the iPhone and iPad. With a market no longer dominated by one player, what incentive do accessory manufacturers have to build Lightning specific docks? Further, what incentive do these hotels have to replace those docks with Lightning speaker docks when the marketshare is shifting Apple to a secondary position?
In today's market where Android has caught up with iOS, it makes more sense for accessory makers to release device agnostic accessories but the established 30 Pin Dock connector industry made that difficult. Apple's decision to move to the brand new -- zero accessories on the market -- Lightning connector has evened the play field and it now seems that Accessory makers don't want to get caught in the same corner.
Will we see a Lighting connector industry pop up or will accessory makers go with wireless which can work with any device? Does this make AirPlay the new dock connector or will its expensive licensing fees push accessory makers to an industry standard that every device can support?
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