this is poor form from amazon, but this rattles the cage of the bees in the bonnet of my bugbear because of the subject matter of apple proprietary standard cab

this is poor form from amazon, but this rattles the cage of the bees in the bonnet of my bugbear because of the subject matter of apple proprietary standard cables why doesn't apple just use a generic standard? its in the best interests of everyone involved. they can still make official cables... i'd also give them a bit more credit if they made these things to a decent quality standard - like actually earthing my macbook when its plugged in instead of lacquering over the connector so it looks shiny but can't possibly work. i've never owned anything that so frequently gives me small shocks - and i've heard the same story from everyone who uses these things in the uk... (maybe other regions get some better quality... our plugs are after all their own special type) they are getting better though, the new iphone 5 and later charger cable actually has a practical level of build quality. unlike the previous generation of official apple cables, which seemed almost designed to fail.... that weak connection on the charging end that always wore out, always developed kinks, and in the hands of the naive would end up as frayed wires... and thats after a mere 6 months to a year of light use. worse build quality than any usb cable i've ever owned.