3 ms·

At the end of June, in 2009, the European Commission started a movement to make micro-USB the standardized charging port for cellphones. It was subsequently bac

by ktizo 14y ago

At the end of June, in 2009, the European Commission started a movement to make micro-USB the standardized charging port for cellphones. It was subsequently backed by roughly 90% of the cellphone market holders, with Apple, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung (among others) all agreeing to the standardization. http://www.slashgear.com/micro-usb-formally-chosen-as-cellphone-charger-standard-by-european-standardization-bodies-29121828/ http://www.slashgear.com/micro-usb-formally-chosen-as-cellph... Apple get around this by promising an adaptor for the european market. Mandated standards can be useful if you want to waste less resources making duplicates of everything in slightly differing shapes. And consumers get to carry less tatt around and can borrow charging leads off each other and stuff. This isn't rocket science.

jpxxx 14y ago
Correct, rocket science is easy. Satisfying the needs of a quarter billion customers is hard. Micro-USB is used universally for charging and photo transfer, and in some platforms it's used for block-storage and/or file-transfer. On Apple's gear it's just used for the first two. So it's not as valuable for iOS customers. Furthermore, Apple is in the unique position of also owning a dominant ecosystem of media devices that have nothing to do with USB, micro-USB, or any variant thereof. They have to service -that- platform too.
- ktizo 14y ago
  Apple is in the unique position of also owning a dominant ecosystem of media devices that have nothing to do with USB, micro-USB, or any variant thereof. Umm... globally it doesn't, and most of it's market is outside the US, where it is forced to play ball to a degree by providing converters for those markets. And if you think that consumer electronics companies have it harder than the space industry, then you are completely delusional.

by ktizo 14y ago

jpxxx 14y ago

Correct, rocket science is easy. Satisfying the needs of a quarter billion customers is hard. Micro-USB is used universally for charging and photo transfer, and in some platforms it's used for block-storage and/or file-transfer. On Apple's gear it's just used for the first two. So it's not as valuable for iOS customers. Furthermore, Apple is in the unique position of also owning a dominant ecosystem of media devices that have nothing to do with USB, micro-USB, or any variant thereof. They have to service -that- platform too.

ktizo 14y ago
Apple is in the unique position of also owning a dominant ecosystem of media devices that have nothing to do with USB, micro-USB, or any variant thereof. Umm... globally it doesn't, and most of it's market is outside the US, where it is forced to play ball to a degree by providing converters for those markets. And if you think that consumer electronics companies have it harder than the space industry, then you are completely delusional.