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You're skipping how Apple made Lightning a closed standard and charged big royalties for it. I can reasonably point to that licensing as the reason a legitimate

You're skipping how Apple made Lightning a closed standard and charged big royalties for it. I can reasonably point to that licensing as the reason a legitimate Lightning to USB cable costs at least $15 instead of $1.50, cause the latter is how much a good knockoff costs.

scarface74 4y ago
And yet I can find one just as good on Amazon for $5. No I also don’t worry about buying gold plated HDMI cables.
- hot_gril 4y ago
  If you can find a $5 one that's truly MFi-licensed and not a counterfeit, that's a new thing. They used to always be $15 minimum. Not talking about luxury ones.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    And why do I care about a “license”?
    - hot_gril 4y ago
      You care when it stops working one day because Apple changed something (maybe intentionally). Out of a combination of spite and cheapness, I've only ever bought unlicensed cables for several years, and this is the price I've paid over time.
      - scarface74 4y ago
        So how well are the USB C cables going to work that follow the minimum “mandate” that doesn’t require cables to support data at all? How well are they going to work when people pick up a “USB C” cable and wonder why they aren’t seeing video when they connect their phone to their TV?
        hot_gril 4y ago
        Not very well, but you can buy decent cables from a variety of manufacturers for cheap, and there isn't this one license-holder (Apple) out there trying to take a big cut from that. If someone wants to make a good Lightning cable for cheap, first they have to break the law by skipping the licensing deal, then they have to get around Apple's own mechanisms.
        scarface74 4y ago
        It doesn’t prevent “ewaste” if phone makers (mostly low end Android phone makers) still bundle shoddy cables, stores are still allowed to sell shoddy cables, etc. And USB C is not free of licensing requirements https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/450494/are-usb-protocol-and-connector-free-or-are-they-patented https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/450494/are-u... A “good” USB C cable that supports all of the things I said - high speed data, video over USB, etc - costs around $15. The same price as an Anker Lightning cable. A random USB C cable doesn’t support video over USB - something I need for my portable secondary display. The iPads with USB C already support this. I have no reason to believe that the next iPhone won’t.
        hot_gril 4y ago
        It's not free, but it's cheap. A good USB-C cable costs less than $5, not $15. You hardly ever need a good one either, just one for charging. Re ewaste, that's a different topic. I'm just talking about licensing fees.
        scarface74 4y ago
        Can that $5 USB C cable support data transfers at USB3 speeds and video over USB C? USB C also has licensing fees. The stated reason was to prevent “ewaste” and yes you can buy a $5 lightning cable. Here is a 3 pack for $10 https://a.co/d/8FB2naZ https://a.co/d/8FB2naZ
        4y ago
scoofy 4y ago
Seriously. I will not take anyone seriously about how "Apple just cared about a better standard" when they literally don't allow it to be made a standard. It's just a connector. If you're not letting everyone use it, it's not about it being better... it's about rent-seeking. Which is exactly what the EU legislation seeks to end.
- bobbylarrybobby 4y ago
  Not to shill for a trillion dollar megacorp, but when you've got lightning and the competition has USB mini, how exactly is that rent seeking? You've developed an objectively better product, don't you deserve something for it?
  - hot_gril 4y ago
    It was in fact much better for several years, and it probably inspired USB-C. At some point it wasn't, and they kept making excuses to keep it anyway. I don't agree with the EU law btw, just saying Apple wasn't keeping Lightning for actual usability reasons in the end.
  - scoofy 4y ago
    Because it's required to use the product, right? Like, if you have a phone, and you can buy a lightning version or a quarter-inch audio version, sure, yes let the free market win. Nope... they removed the audio jack (against large public outcry). This isn't about lightning being better, because we were never offered a choice. Lightning being the only option when there is a clear market for alternatives is the obvious tell for rent seeking.

scarface74 4y ago

And yet I can find one just as good on Amazon for $5. No I also don’t worry about buying gold plated HDMI cables.

hot_gril 4y ago
If you can find a $5 one that's truly MFi-licensed and not a counterfeit, that's a new thing. They used to always be $15 minimum. Not talking about luxury ones.
- scarface74 4y ago
  And why do I care about a “license”?
  - hot_gril 4y ago
    You care when it stops working one day because Apple changed something (maybe intentionally). Out of a combination of spite and cheapness, I've only ever bought unlicensed cables for several years, and this is the price I've paid over time.
    - scarface74 4y ago
      So how well are the USB C cables going to work that follow the minimum “mandate” that doesn’t require cables to support data at all? How well are they going to work when people pick up a “USB C” cable and wonder why they aren’t seeing video when they connect their phone to their TV?
      - hot_gril 4y ago
        Not very well, but you can buy decent cables from a variety of manufacturers for cheap, and there isn't this one license-holder (Apple) out there trying to take a big cut from that. If someone wants to make a good Lightning cable for cheap, first they have to break the law by skipping the licensing deal, then they have to get around Apple's own mechanisms.
        scarface74 4y ago
        It doesn’t prevent “ewaste” if phone makers (mostly low end Android phone makers) still bundle shoddy cables, stores are still allowed to sell shoddy cables, etc. And USB C is not free of licensing requirements https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/450494/are-usb-protocol-and-connector-free-or-are-they-patented https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/450494/are-u... A “good” USB C cable that supports all of the things I said - high speed data, video over USB, etc - costs around $15. The same price as an Anker Lightning cable. A random USB C cable doesn’t support video over USB - something I need for my portable secondary display. The iPads with USB C already support this. I have no reason to believe that the next iPhone won’t.
        hot_gril 4y ago
        It's not free, but it's cheap. A good USB-C cable costs less than $5, not $15. You hardly ever need a good one either, just one for charging. Re ewaste, that's a different topic. I'm just talking about licensing fees.
        scarface74 4y ago
        Can that $5 USB C cable support data transfers at USB3 speeds and video over USB C? USB C also has licensing fees. The stated reason was to prevent “ewaste” and yes you can buy a $5 lightning cable. Here is a 3 pack for $10 https://a.co/d/8FB2naZ https://a.co/d/8FB2naZ
        4y ago

scoofy 4y ago

Seriously. I will not take anyone seriously about how "Apple just cared about a better standard" when they literally don't allow it to be made a standard. It's just a connector. If you're not letting everyone use it, it's not about it being better... it's about rent-seeking. Which is exactly what the EU legislation seeks to end.

bobbylarrybobby 4y ago
Not to shill for a trillion dollar megacorp, but when you've got lightning and the competition has USB mini, how exactly is that rent seeking? You've developed an objectively better product, don't you deserve something for it?
- hot_gril 4y ago
  It was in fact much better for several years, and it probably inspired USB-C. At some point it wasn't, and they kept making excuses to keep it anyway. I don't agree with the EU law btw, just saying Apple wasn't keeping Lightning for actual usability reasons in the end.
- scoofy 4y ago
  Because it's required to use the product, right? Like, if you have a phone, and you can buy a lightning version or a quarter-inch audio version, sure, yes let the free market win. Nope... they removed the audio jack (against large public outcry). This isn't about lightning being better, because we were never offered a choice. Lightning being the only option when there is a clear market for alternatives is the obvious tell for rent seeking.