Apple Says "No" To Releasing New Dock Connector Specs

sl4shd0rk writes "According to sources, Apple hasn't offered any specs to developers for the new '9-pin Connector' to be used on the next version of the iPhone. Apple has also said it may use 'licensing agreements and threats of lawsuits' to prevent third-party adapters from hitting the market through at least 2012. There have been suggestions that this tactic is to allow Apple time to leverage competition and reap in revenues of $100 million for every 10 million Dock Connector Adapters it sells for $10. It remains unclear whether Apple will allow third-party developers to release competing alternatives after 2012."

Putting words in Apples mouth

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple hasn't said a damn thing. Just speculation.

Re:universal connector

[gl4ss]

There is a standard and it is very much like usb. Its called micro usb which you might have heard of.
Virtually every smart phone these days sold has a micro usb port.

iPhones and iPads are not phones or tablets. They are purely fashion statements.
No one would buy them otherwise.

all other manufacturers agreed to standardize on microusb some 5 years ago(and it's finally starting to be used on pretty much all, non-apple, devices now).

Re:universal connector

[data2]

http://www.maclife.com/article/news/microusb_set_european_commission_standard_smartphones [maclife.com]
Brought to you by those commie, over-regulating Europeans.

Re:Putting words in Apples mouth

[debilo]

The new connector itself is pure rumor.

Assuming this video [gizmodo.com] is authentic, a side by side comparison does hint at a new, much smaller connector.

Re:universal connector

[profplump]

No, that's for speaker-level audio after the amp. The port on the bottom puts out line-level audio (with no internal volume control), along with video, status lines to detect/inform the power state, data lines so you can read and control the device, and a whole slew of other things that have come and gone throughout the decade-long life of the 30-pin connector. It is possible to do most of these things with other standard ports (though not all of them, particularly on a thin case), but the replacement is not as simple as power + headphones.

Blah

[GeekWithAKnife]

Is it just me or are we getting damn tired of hearing about apple and it's typical BS?

Re:universal connector

[Anonymous Coward]

Micro-USB with MHL does serial, audio and video, way better than analog pins, and does much much more.
Having analog signals run through dubious-quality cheap connectors is so last century.

Re:universal connector

[digitig]

There is a standard and it is very much like usb.

Only for charging, not for data. And a manufacturer can be compliant by supplying an adaptor, which only has to charge the device, not carry data. Hardly relevant to docking the device.

Re:universal connector

[nospam007]

"all other manufacturers agreed to standardize on microusb some 5 years ago(and it's finally starting to be used on pretty much all, non-apple, devices now)."

Apple signed the agreement as well.
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/magazine/articles/single-market/article_10942_en.htm [europa.eu]

Re:Apple is the new Microsoft

[dj245]

This kind of behavior worked a lot more in the 40 years ago (when the manufacturing cycle took a lot longer) than it does today. I'm not saying it is excusable, but the market for people who need to buy Apple accessories is so large that many companies buy the Apple Thing on day 1, reverse engineer it on day 2, and are receiving Accessories for the Apple Thing within a couple weeks from China. I work with a company that owns a Faro Laser Scanarm [faro.com] (3d scanner) and they frequently have multiple customers send them phones overnight on day 1. Each one of them is trying to get into the market for docks, cases, screen protectors, etc.

I'm not saying that Apple's tactics are OK, but they are generally futile in this case. You can't stop a flood of Chinese accessories from dozens of manufacturers.

Re:universal connector

[CapuchinSeven]

The EU are fine with this. http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MD099ZM/A/apple-iphone-micro-usb-adapter?mco=MjU5MjAwODM [apple.com] The directive is there to stop people throwing away chargers, this fixes that problem and the EU is fine with it. Apple is complying, and a quick google search brings up 100s of citations.

Re:Apple is the new Microsoft

[ArhcAngel]

That would be very...un-Apple-like. They currently make money on every device legitimately sold by 3rd party OEMs (iHome, JBL) by requiring an NDA and licensing agreement through their MFi [apple.com] program. I found and interesting read here [quora.com] about the reasoning behind the Square [squareup.com] CC reader using the audio port. They cite several valid reasons but one that sticks out in a big way is basically it costs Square US $1 to manufacture the device but it would have cost them $4-$8 per device in licensing if they had gone with the 30 pin dock connector.