4 ms·

The discussion seems to be easily diverted into one about audio, but I think something that I've not seen in discussion about this issue is the way some app mak

The discussion seems to be easily diverted into one about audio, but I think something that I've not seen in discussion about this issue is the way some app makers have used the analog audio port as a data jack. I've long had the impression this was a workaround that was begrudgingly tolerated by Apple. Though we've all heard about how heavy-handed their app store policies are, so maybe I'm imagining things. But anyway, how does this new port affect the use of those devices and how does it affect future devices? Are there Lightning-only devices in the works, does Lightning allow the same sort of communication that the analog port did? Plugging the audio jack seems to be Apple closing a loophole. It's not at all different from soldering RAM on motherboards to close the after-market RAM upgrade loophole and force customers to decide at purchase time how they'll use the computer in the future. Either they'll by too-low spec'd machine and have to upgrade sooner, or buy high spec'd and pay more upfront. Either way Apple wins. Their phones don't have card slots but my $50 LG phone does, so it's not a question of capability. When you can add 32GB of storage for $15, that money doesn't go to Apple. The truly bothersome thing is how in denial people are about Apple's true intentions, or maybe it's simply that they own Apple stock. Apple's a public company, this is profit motivated pure and simple. Whether this move will also coincide with the interests of the customer remains to be seen. (edit for typos and clarification)

AceJohnny2 10y ago
Though I can't find the reference offhand, Apple said the adapter would support other "audio jack" tools, specifically calling out the Square payment dongle.
TheGRS 10y ago
Yea the one that comes to mind for me would be the card swiper by Square and other companies. That thing is amazing for small businesses, especially mobile food carts. I'm starting to see many are moving over to the card reader however, which I'm not sure if that is lightning-based or not. Anyway, I think that is a great point. Smart phones need a good serial port for 3rd-party hardware. USB would work, but everyone uses a different standard. Is the lightning port any easier or more difficult to work with? I imagine there's some sort of cost to using a proprietary port like that as well.
- throwanem 10y ago
  > Yea the one that comes to mind for me would be the card swiper by Square and other companies. At the hardware level, that's a microphone. I don't see any a priori reason to imagine it would fail to work via the Lightning to 3.5mm adapter, any more than any other microphone would. It's less convenient mechanically because the connection is no longer rigid, which may make swiping uncomfortable, but that's the only drawback I see. (And a sibling comment mentions having seen Apple explicitly call that out as something which will keep working, so maybe we don't need to reason a priori here.)
robotresearcher 10y ago
The new phone comes with the analog jack adaptor in the box. Assuming the electrical and A/D, D/A specs are not different than the previous built-in analog jack, nothing has changed apart from the hassle of a dongle.
- drzaiusapelord 10y ago
  Sure, but what percentage of iphone owners will lose this dongle? I imagine its a non-trivial number. Apple's famous markup means they created a new revenue source out of thin air with this decision. Certainly, Apple has an interest in making their phones as sleek as possible, but that decision is always tied to monetization concerns. I think its a little naive to ignore the added income Apple is going to enjoy here.
  - mikeash 10y ago
    The adapter costs $9. Not a huge cost to replace, and I don't think Apple is marking it up very much. Apple sells seemingly simpler cables for $19 and up, so I think they're trying really hard to make it cheap to buy.
  - apetrovic 10y ago
    The dongle is $9. Considering typical Apple prices, that's not much. I doubt that will be a big new revenue stream for Apple.
Tinyyy 10y ago
The utility of the audio port as a data jack is so minuscule compared to the impact and backlash of removing the 3.5mm port that I don’t think it is much of a factor at all.

AceJohnny2 10y ago

Though I can't find the reference offhand, Apple said the adapter would support other "audio jack" tools, specifically calling out the Square payment dongle.

TheGRS 10y ago

Yea the one that comes to mind for me would be the card swiper by Square and other companies. That thing is amazing for small businesses, especially mobile food carts. I'm starting to see many are moving over to the card reader however, which I'm not sure if that is lightning-based or not. Anyway, I think that is a great point. Smart phones need a good serial port for 3rd-party hardware. USB would work, but everyone uses a different standard. Is the lightning port any easier or more difficult to work with? I imagine there's some sort of cost to using a proprietary port like that as well.

throwanem 10y ago
> Yea the one that comes to mind for me would be the card swiper by Square and other companies. At the hardware level, that's a microphone. I don't see any a priori reason to imagine it would fail to work via the Lightning to 3.5mm adapter, any more than any other microphone would. It's less convenient mechanically because the connection is no longer rigid, which may make swiping uncomfortable, but that's the only drawback I see. (And a sibling comment mentions having seen Apple explicitly call that out as something which will keep working, so maybe we don't need to reason a priori here.)

robotresearcher 10y ago

The new phone comes with the analog jack adaptor in the box. Assuming the electrical and A/D, D/A specs are not different than the previous built-in analog jack, nothing has changed apart from the hassle of a dongle.

drzaiusapelord 10y ago
Sure, but what percentage of iphone owners will lose this dongle? I imagine its a non-trivial number. Apple's famous markup means they created a new revenue source out of thin air with this decision. Certainly, Apple has an interest in making their phones as sleek as possible, but that decision is always tied to monetization concerns. I think its a little naive to ignore the added income Apple is going to enjoy here.
- mikeash 10y ago
  The adapter costs $9. Not a huge cost to replace, and I don't think Apple is marking it up very much. Apple sells seemingly simpler cables for $19 and up, so I think they're trying really hard to make it cheap to buy.
- apetrovic 10y ago
  The dongle is $9. Considering typical Apple prices, that's not much. I doubt that will be a big new revenue stream for Apple.

Tinyyy 10y ago

The utility of the audio port as a data jack is so minuscule compared to the impact and backlash of removing the 3.5mm port that I don’t think it is much of a factor at all.