> at least not enough to pay whatever Apple was asking to use it. And I think that's the key issue – not just Apple's licensing fees, but the cost of the cable

> at least not enough to pay whatever Apple was asking to use it. And I think that's the key issue – not just Apple's licensing fees, but the cost of the cables too. They'd either have to include a Lightning cable themselves or handle complaints from customers who need to buy an extra one. Either way, it's a bad deal. The fact that it's a closed standard and requires licensing fees (both of which are clearly ridiculous) are separate issues from whether the design itself is technically better than USB or not.