Size Matters: Apple Plans Product Killer Connector?

[Jaggator]

If a blog report is to be believed, a connector change is about to make every iPhone accessory — obsolete???

Check it out and you tech gurus tell us what you think.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/...ntcmp=features

[philnotfil]

Yeah, it happens. Same thing with iPods before they came up with the iPhone (I think maybe the fifth generation iPod was the first to use the current connector, an update is probably overdue). It's been a while since they upgraded the cable, but they've done it before and they will do it again. Frees up more space inside the gadget when they can get to a smaller connector. I just wish they would use something standard.

[irish2u2]

The real point is this is how Apple establishes a new standard. They just got rid of floppy dives and went all optical. They did away with SCSI and ADB for FireWire and USB. Apple is just starting the switch to Thunderbolt and that may be painful at some point too.

There are two things you can count on and one is there is a very good technological reason for switching from a 30 pin connector to 19 pin and it probably has a lot to do with the thickness of the iPhone 5. The other thing we can count on is there will be adapters so the old connectors will work too.

Companies like Apple wouldn't be innovating too much if they asked customer's permission before upgrading their technology. Too many people are comfortable with the status quo or uncomfortable with change.

You should have heard my wife's arguments when I switched her from her crap smartphone to an iPhone 4S. It took a week but now she loves it and she even gets along with Siri.

[Juggernautz]

Even tho I have a IPhone 4 & Ipad 3(new), I'll never switch to a Macbook or MacPC..

[orangeblueorangeblue]

Originally Posted by irish2u2

The real point is this is how Apple establishes a new standard. They just got rid of floppy dives and went all optical. They did away with SCSI and ADB for FireWire and USB. Apple is just starting the switch to Thunderbolt and that may be painful at some point too.

I wouldn't say Apple got rid of floppy drives ... they introduced Firewire which not only never really took off but is near abandonment. Meanwhile USB was developed through consortium and thus got more widespread adoption. Eventually Apple had to acquiesce as literally 95% of peripheral devices were USB and only 5% supported Firewire.

Apple doesn't have an awesome history of introducing successful new protocols. I'd put them a notch above Sony, but both are at the bottom of the heap in that regard.

Connectors aren't a huge deal, particularly if they're device dependent (as will be the case with the Mac line & its associated products). Not being backwards compatible will end up being a huge hassle for a lot of people. Apple's banking on most of them just upgrading or adopting adapters.

I own two macs at home: an Air and a mini. They're solid computers. Wholly overpriced, but totally reliable. But having owned an iPhone and some other top of the line Android devices, I'm not sure you could pay me to go back to the iPhone.

[philnotfil]

If Apple didn't kill the floppy, who did?

It's kind of mind-boggling that USB gained more widespread adoption, firewire is so much better.

[LakeGator]

Originally Posted by philnotfil

If Apple didn't kill the floppy, who did?

It's kind of mind-boggling that USB gained more widespread adoption, firewire is so much better.

If any one company gets credit for killing the floppy it would be AOL. When they stopped sending everyone a free floppy it cut the supply of media. Apple certainly did not have sufficient market share at the time of death.

The floppy had a long life and died like any technology due to becoming obsolete. The USB flash drive is vastly superior is virtually every way. The floppy officially didn't die until last year when Sony stopped making them. Sony knows a dead 'standard' very well; they stayed with Betamax far longer than profitable even though it was vastly superior to VHS.

FireWire may be superior to USB but, like Betamax, the marketplace is about perceived technical superiority - it is about acceptance.

The days of spinning memory are numbered. Hard drives with motors will be history in the next few years as SSD becomes cheaper.

[Vindibudd]

Originally Posted by orangeblueorangeblue

I wouldn't say Apple got rid of floppy drives ... they introduced Firewire which not only never really took off but is near abandonment. Meanwhile USB was developed through consortium and thus got more widespread adoption. Eventually Apple had to acquiesce as literally 95% of peripheral devices were USB and only 5% supported Firewire.

Apple doesn't have an awesome history of introducing successful new protocols. I'd put them a notch above Sony, but both are at the bottom of the heap in that regard.

Connectors aren't a huge deal, particularly if they're device dependent (as will be the case with the Mac line & its associated products). Not being backwards compatible will end up being a huge hassle for a lot of people. Apple's banking on most of them just upgrading or adopting adapters.

I own two macs at home: an Air and a mini. They're solid computers. Wholly overpriced, but totally reliable. But having owned an iPhone and some other top of the line Android devices, I'm not sure you could pay me to go back to the iPhone.

I believe the original iMac was the first computer to totally drop the floppy drive as a standard feature. I remember it being a huge deal at the time. I think you are giving AOL too much credit there.

[LakeGator]

My reference to AOL was very much tongue in cheek.

IMaHO, no single vendor gets the credit - it is the marketplace.

[seanymac]

Originally Posted by orangeblueorangeblue

I wouldn't say Apple got rid of floppy drives ... they introduced Firewire which not only never really took off but is near abandonment. Meanwhile USB was developed through consortium and thus got more widespread adoption. Eventually Apple had to acquiesce as literally 95% of peripheral devices were USB and only 5% supported Firewire.

Apple doesn't have an awesome history of introducing successful new protocols. I'd put them a notch above Sony, but both are at the bottom of the heap in that regard.

Connectors aren't a huge deal, particularly if they're device dependent (as will be the case with the Mac line & its associated products). Not being backwards compatible will end up being a huge hassle for a lot of people. Apple's banking on most of them just upgrading or adopting adapters.

I own two macs at home: an Air and a mini. They're solid computers. Wholly overpriced, but totally reliable. But having owned an iPhone and some other top of the line Android devices, I'm not sure you could pay me to go back to the iPhone.

iPhone = 100X better than android.

[orangeblueorangeblue]

Originally Posted by seanymac

iPhone = 100X better than android.

This is obviously a matter of preference.

What isn't is Apple's habit of being very Sony-like in eschewing industry-developed standards for their own ... often without much adoption.

Originally Posted by philnotfil

If Apple didn't kill the floppy, who did?

It's kind of mind-boggling that USB gained more widespread adoption, firewire is so much better.

Firewire 1.0 was much better than USB 1.0. USB 2.0 and 3.0 are much better than Firewire.

[philnotfil]

Originally Posted by orangeblueorangeblue

This is obviously a matter of preference.

What isn't is Apple's habit of being very Sony-like in eschewing industry-developed standards for their own ... often without much adoption.



Firewire 1.0 was much better than USB 1.0. USB 2.0 and 3.0 are much better than Firewire.

Even the old Firewire 400 is still faster than USB 2.0 in actual use. USB 3.0 is pretty good. Thunderbolt is ridiculously faster than any of them, which of course means that no one will actually use it.

[StrangeGator]

Originally Posted by philnotfil

Even the old Firewire 400 is still faster than USB 2.0 in actual use. USB 3.0 is pretty good. Thunderbolt is ridiculously faster than any of them, which of course means that no one will actually use it.

Thunderbolt is used by multi-media professionals like animators and film/video editors. That's probably tens, if not hundreds of thousands of users. (Look at all the youtube programmers) Mac has been locking down that business since the proliferation of Final Cut and the demise of big post-production studios.

[philnotfil]

Originally Posted by StrangeGator

Thunderbolt is used by multi-media professionals like animators and film/video editors. That's probably tens, if not hundreds of thousands of users. (Look at all the youtube programmers) Mac has been locking down that business since the proliferation of Final Cut and the demise of big post-production studios.

They were all using firewire before thunderbolt was available, see how widespread firewire is?

[orangeblueorangeblue]

Absolutely, Apple has been carving out niche markets since Jobs returned ... the issue is when Firewire was introduced you couldn't do high quality music / CGI / animation / video production on Windows. Now you can.

[michaelc]

Originally Posted by LakeGator

If any one company gets credit for killing the floppy it would be AOL. When they stopped sending everyone a free floppy it cut the supply of media. Apple certainly did not have sufficient market share at the time of death.

The floppy had a long life and died like any technology due to becoming obsolete. The USB flash drive is vastly superior is virtually every way. The floppy officially didn't die until last year when Sony stopped making them. Sony knows a dead 'standard' very well; they stayed with Betamax far longer than profitable even though it was vastly superior to VHS.

FireWire may be superior to USB but, like Betamax, the marketplace is about perceived technical superiority - it is about acceptance.

The days of spinning memory are numbered. Hard drives with motors will be history in the next few years as SSD becomes cheaper.

CDs are the ultimate form of long term memory, I think hard drives come in two and solid state devices have to be written only once for long term memory...

switch that, solid state devices (written once, are by far the best form of memory), hard drives last a long time and are very easy to store

never trusted solid state

[irish2u2]

Firewire replaced SCSI and I'm not thinking too many here will argue that FW is better than SCSI, right? USB vs FW is VHS vs Beta. They are both plug and play so either works for me.

Apple was the first mainstream computer company to do away with floppy drives and as guessed correctly it was in the original iMac.

I don't get into the Android vs iPhone battle mainly because I don't feel there is a battle. Use what you like. I'm heavily invested in the Apple Eco-System so an iPhone is a natural progression for me. It works. I have nothing but Macs in my house and frankly they all work too.

Often a damn sight better than the PCs my friends own.

I can honestly say I haven't had a major issue beyond the rare times I may have to re-boot my Macs (and the list of Macs I have owned is actually embarrassing but it also includes collectibles ; ) since 2004 with a PowerBook 17" that had some issues with the MotherBoard. Apple fixed it twice but it kept flaking out so they sent me a brand new PB 17" that worked perfectly. I worked in a Sun and Silicon Graphics workstation environment for years and eventually migrated to a company that ran on a Dell/Windows NT backbone. Since 1992 I have had nothing but Macs and it isn't because they cost more or I'm into keeping up with the Jones (if the Jones were nerds ; ) or impressing people. For me and in my experience Macs just work better. Because they work better for me I'm not too concerned they changed the connector on the iPhone 5 even if it cost me a few more bucks.