Why I Hate the New Apple Lightning Port
The new “Lightning” dock connector has a lot of people crying foul. Let me start off by saying that as cables go, it’s a pretty nice connector. It is reversible, meaning you can plug it in upside-down and it still works. It’s also great that Apple has finally ditched the giant 30-pin connector used on iPhones, iPads, and iPods they have been using for nearly a decade for Lightning which is 80% smaller. They might even add some nifty extra functionality to it down the line.
The Bad Part With Lightning is Two-Fold
Your Old Stuff? Sorry!
First off: say goodbye to all of your old cables and accessories. They don’t work anymore. If you have a cool gadget like a bungee cord for your iPhone 4, sorry, doesn’t work anymore. Dock? Battery Pack? A bunch of cables lying around? Buy a new one (or five).
That is unless you buy a $29 Lightning to 30-pin dock connector adapter. Depending on how many accessories you have, you might need a couple.
Pfft, Standards!
Secondly, they are ignoring a standard so they can cash in. This part irks me the most. You see, nearly every phone these days uses a micro-USB plug to charge. Between tablets and phones, they can all charge with the same cord.
"Introduction of the universal charger will make life much simpler for EU consumers," said Dennis Abbott, a European Commission spokesperson. "When you discover you’ve left your charger at home or work, you will be able to use someone else’s, knowing it will fit your phone. How cool is that?"
In the EU, they actually have a policy beginning in 2011 which states that mobile phone makers should move to a standard mobile charger (micro-USB). The idea behind it is that one standard plug would make it simpler for consumers. If you forgot your charger at home, you can use someone else’s at work (or the hotel). It would also simplify the manufacturing process, and help reduce electronic waste from useless, obsolete chargers. All of the major mobile phone manufacturers are signed on.
So how does Apple get around it? By selling an adapter for £15 (~$25). Completely defeating the purpose of having a single standard.
Oh, and for those on the other side of the Atlantic who think it would be handy to have one of these adapters? Sorry, Apple doesn’t sell them in North America.
But Why Do They Do That To Us?
Control
By using a proprietary connector, Apple can make all the rules, and change them whenever they want. That could be to add a new feature, or maybe take one away.
I recall a problem I ran into with my “iPod with video” a few years back. I had a video-out cable for it so I could watch video podcasts on my TV. When that iPod was stolen, and I bought the new model (iPod Classic I believe, which was essentially the same), my cable no longer worked. The difference in the cable? The first one, a standard AV cable (in which Apple had changed the plug assignment) cost me a couple bucks, and the new one would cost me $50.
Apple can also decide who gets to make accessories.
Money
Since Apple licences companies that make accessories using the port, they get a cut of every single one that is sold.
To put that into perspective, Apple has sold 85 million iPhone in the USA since 2007 and 34 million iPads since 2010. Then add iPod touch, and then add on the rest of the world… that’s a lot of gadgets, and a lot of accessories people buy for them.
And of course, I’m sure they’ll sell a few of those $29 adapters in the meantime.
So there it is. Billions of dollars
.
In the end, I don’t think it’s good for consumers. This is exactly why I moved from Sony digital cameras in the early 2000’s when they were forcing customers to buy overpriced Memory Sticks and power adapters… just because they could.
But it does look pretty cool.
One of the editors of Too Many Adapters, Dustin just can’t get enough travel or technology.
When not directly feeding his above insatiable habits, you can probably find him at some far away ice cream shop taking pictures and tweeting of all the flavors to jealous followers. That, or on top of a mountain somewhere shooting panoramas with his DSLR.
I agree.. I don’t like their closed marketing strategy, forcing us for example to use a Mac to upload iOS applications to the Apple store (no way to do that from a PC, that’s why I reluctantly bought a Macbook and partially converted)
As for the microUSB connector… it’s just a matter of weeks before we can find generic versions of it on eBay.
Good post. For me, this sums up why I dislike Apple and don’t buy their products. A standard is what we need for both consumer benefits and environmental benefits. Corporate greed at its best.
All spot on. I agree with every point and have said the same things to anyone who will listen. It’s why I also moved away from Sony products – proprietary memory sticks, just like you. And while I enjoyed my iPod Touch while it lasted, I’ve moved on from Apple.
Pricing is absurd all around on stuff like this but here’s my favorite: a standard adapter is $29, but an adapter with a 0.2m long cable is $39! As if $29 isn’t already obscene, an extra $10 for a 20cm piece of wire? Seriously?
Ah, the other part that’s not mentioned. Apple’s adapters come with a tiny chip in them – in part so they can make sure ONLY officially licensed equipment works with them and you don’t have the freedom to buy a perfectly capable substitute for a lower price.
Personally I never liked Apple because of their proprietary nature of their products. I buy them but curse them at the same time. If the lightning connector was actually something that made sense I would not mind. But in the end it looks flimsy and more delicate then the old connector. The adapters don’t guarantee that your lightning connector device will work with older accessories. Again Apple does things that do nothing to help the consumer or make their products last longer. They make changes to make you have to buy more stuff. Weather its selling adapters or selling new products. Its all about profits and creating needs for those products.