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Comment by simias | Hacker News Reader

I'm not really surprised. What I really don't understand however, is why they decided to make a new proprietary format instead of using micro USB like everybody else.

So far I could excuse the 30 pin connector, back when they made it everybody used their own formats and they probably didn't want to break backward compatibility with all the existing iPod peripherals.

But now they decided to finally change it... for an other proprietary format? And the only advantage it has from what I've seen is that you can plug it both ways. Maybe it's apple way of saying "we're not the average smartphone, we're an iPhone!".

I also wonder what will happen with all the iPhone docks out there. The lightning port seems very small, can it really hold the weight of the phone without breaking easily?

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> What I really don't understand however, is why they decided to make a new proprietary format instead of using micro USB like everybody else.

What I don't understand is why you think Apple should be forced to implement a crappy standard instead of creating something that is so obviously much better.

That said, I'm hoping that Apple will release a plate-shaped adapter for existing 30 pin dock devices.

What the EU did with the standardisation of connectors was a good thing for consumers. I'm not really sure why someone would side with Apple in this respect, other than if you own shares in the business, work for them, for a supplier etc.

That's correct. I enjoy getting rid of bunch of different cables. Now 1 plug and 1 micro-USB cable can charge all phones, tablets and e-readers in house.

I also side with them as a consumer who frequently connects cables to devices, and therefore knows that micro-usb sucks balls.

If I was an Apple shareholder I would have wanted them to stick with the 30 pin connector; as much as Lightning should greatly improve usability, Apple have so much marketplace inertia stored in the 30 pin accessory market, and they're going to lose all of it overnight.

See that awesome fancy speaker dock? Chances are it's got a 30 pin connector on it. That's not going to be the case in 18 months. And I bet less than half of the speaker dock market is Lightning by then; the rest will be neither.

Because it limits innovation. What if there was a law that was enacted in the 1970s that mandated every video interconnect must be a single RCA cable?

It's about being able to get accessory makers to pay licensing fees and sue the ones who don't for patent infringement.

Do you work for Samsung, by any chance?

Basically, micro-USB is non-reversible, non-elegant, not customizable enough and not powerful enough to charge an iPad.

> What I really don't understand however, is why they decided to make a new proprietary format instead of using micro USB like everybody else.

Is getting an extra couple billion dollars in profit really that hard to understand?

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