Only Connect: Apple’s new Lightning connector splits opinion
Welcome to another post in the series by Nick Locke, of Nicab Ltd, who has over 15 years experience in the electronics manufacturing industry specialising in interconnection cable assembly.
The latest iPhone 5 will undoubtedly be a great success and sell by the truck load. Something that is very interesting is the adoption of their new mini connector, called Lightning.
This new connector is proprietary, as you would expect from Apple, and is similar to the mini USB. Most feel Apple wanted to save space by using this new connector but did not like the idea of users being able to use the standard mini USB cable in favour of their premium price cable.
As first reported in the Telegraph, speaking at an exclusive lunch in Sydney for 30 winners of a Vodafone competition, Apple’s former official “evangelist” Kawasaki said he was “disappointed” in the company’s decision to change the connection slots on the new iPhone 5, forcing customers to buy new cables.
“This connector thing, I think it’s pure arrogance,” Mr Kawasaki said. “They say ‘we want to save space and go from 30 pins to whatever number of pins it has now’. Well, if the goal was really to save space why didn’t you just go to a micro USB like everybody else in the world, and we could all get a cable at 7-11 for $5.
“But no, you had to have a proprietary one. It fries my brain, I don’t understand it. It’s just arrogance and I’m disappointed very much in that.”
He will undoubtedly be saying what many people think, for balance I admire Apple for the way everything is proprietary. If you want a product with lots of features you don’t have to buy Apple, there are many other excellent products out there. However, part of the Apple identity is about being in a top league of electronic gadget buyers. The fact you can only use their cables, for some, is a badge of honour.
Whatever your thoughts, this is all part of the exciting drama that is Apple post Steve Jobs. Who knows what will happen next and if the new management can keep the momentum in the brand going like a steam train that only Jobs could have created.
Previous Only Connect entries:
* Only Connect: New Samtec connectors
* Only Connect: TE Connectivity’s Appliance Knowledge Base web Portal
* Only Connect: On planning for Cable Assemblies
* Only Connect: On quality (and Olympics transmissions)
* Only Connect: Facebook invests in undersea cable project
* Only Connect: Only Connect: On Good Use of Multimedia #2
* Only Connect: Top 10 Industrial connector manufacturers
* Only Connect: On Far-East sub-contract manufacturing
* Only Connect: Going Green #11 – plastic packaging
* Only Connect: Top ten connector manufacturers
* Only Connect: On good use of multimedia
* Only Connect: On innovation in Electronics
* Only Connect: On new technology (II)
* Only Connect: On new technology
* Only Connect: Only Connect: On branded manufacturers using multimedia