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It's funny because the Lighting connector has been around since 2012, when Android phones were largely using Micro USB, with an awkward flirtation with the wide

It's funny because the Lighting connector has been around since 2012, when Android phones were largely using Micro USB, with an awkward flirtation with the wide USB3 connector. Now they're standardizing on USB-C, so if you were upgrading frequently you may have needed 3 cables in the past 8 years. Before then iPhones used the 30-pin connector, backwards compatible with 5-year-old iPod accessories. At that time other manufactures seemed to be shipping different barrel-plug chargers and proprietary cables for every model. So that's 2 connectors introduced over a span of 18 years supported by dozens of product models that sold billions of units. Cables have been available from third parties for most of that time. The only dongles that might apply are 30-pin to Lightning or USB-A to USB-C. The 30-pin's raison d'être was to provide features you couldn't get out of USB, like analog audio and video out. And Lightning was a much better designed connector than Micro USB due to being reversible, which informed the design of the Type C connector. I'd agree that the Mac now has a dongle problem, but it's precisely _because_ it switched to USB-C, as you suggested.

dahfizz 6y ago
This is misguided. The problem is not how quickly one format or the other iterates. The problem is forcing your users to endure a closed, licensed format. A USB accessory will work on any device, but a lightning accessory only works on an iPhone, to nobody's benefit but Apple. Apple's hate of standards is anti-consumer, and that's why the EU ruled against them. What particularly ircs me is that Apple has acknowledged that USB-C is the superior plug by going all in on their laptops. But they can't let go of all the money they make selling licenses for third party cables on iPhones.
- xvector 6y ago
  > The problem is forcing your users to endure a closed, licensed format. Lightning was a huge win for consumers because it was years ahead of the incompetently designed clusterfuck that micro-USB was. > Apple's hate of standards is anti-consumer, and that's why the EU ruled against them. Apple’s “hate of standards” is in part the reason the USB-C ecosystem exists today. They contributed quite a bit to its development. The EU ruled against Apple because the EU is full of bureaucratic idiots that care more about looking good than actually knowing what they’re doing. The circlejerk that the EU is always correct needs to end. If the EU ruling happened a few years ago we’d never have had Lightning and we’d have been stuck with the piece of shit known as micro-USB. Thankfully, Apple was allowed to innovate independently as any remotely reasonable government would allow, and created a connector that would later inspire USB-C. > What particularly ircs me is that Apple has acknowledged that USB-C is the superior plug by going all in on their laptops. But they can't let go of all the money they make selling licenses for third party cables on iPhones. Catch-22; if they change the cable people like you complain that they’re trying to obsolete accessories, and if they don’t change the cable people like you complain that they’re trying to profiteer off of accessories.

dahfizz 6y ago

This is misguided. The problem is not how quickly one format or the other iterates. The problem is forcing your users to endure a closed, licensed format. A USB accessory will work on any device, but a lightning accessory only works on an iPhone, to nobody's benefit but Apple. Apple's hate of standards is anti-consumer, and that's why the EU ruled against them. What particularly ircs me is that Apple has acknowledged that USB-C is the superior plug by going all in on their laptops. But they can't let go of all the money they make selling licenses for third party cables on iPhones.

xvector 6y ago
> The problem is forcing your users to endure a closed, licensed format. Lightning was a huge win for consumers because it was years ahead of the incompetently designed clusterfuck that micro-USB was. > Apple's hate of standards is anti-consumer, and that's why the EU ruled against them. Apple’s “hate of standards” is in part the reason the USB-C ecosystem exists today. They contributed quite a bit to its development. The EU ruled against Apple because the EU is full of bureaucratic idiots that care more about looking good than actually knowing what they’re doing. The circlejerk that the EU is always correct needs to end. If the EU ruling happened a few years ago we’d never have had Lightning and we’d have been stuck with the piece of shit known as micro-USB. Thankfully, Apple was allowed to innovate independently as any remotely reasonable government would allow, and created a connector that would later inspire USB-C. > What particularly ircs me is that Apple has acknowledged that USB-C is the superior plug by going all in on their laptops. But they can't let go of all the money they make selling licenses for third party cables on iPhones. Catch-22; if they change the cable people like you complain that they’re trying to obsolete accessories, and if they don’t change the cable people like you complain that they’re trying to profiteer off of accessories.