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Apple Starts Blocking Unauthorized Lightning Cables With iOS 7
beltsbear writes "Your formerly working clone Lightning cable could stop working with the latest iOS update. Previously the beta version allowed these cables to charge with a warning message but the final release actually stops many cables from working. Apples Lightning connector system is locked with authentication chips that can verify if a cable is authorized by Apple. Many users with clone cables are now without the ability to charge their iPhones."
Control freaks like controlling.
Many Apple users now have to use the official legal lightning cables included with their IPhone, they are not without a way to charge their phones. They may be out money because they chose to purchase a non-authorized cable. But that is their problem, cheap doesn't always equal better!!!
The idea of a physical cable is that it is simple, robust and as long as the connectors fit, it should (given sane engineering) do what is expected. It is fascinating how they violate that simple and powerful idea in a complex way, just to make a few bucks more. It is also utterly repulsive to any principled engineer.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
The Ford Motor Company has reprogrammed all recent model Ford cars and light trucks to prevent them from being refueled from Texaco gas pumps. Film at eleven.
Well I wonder how apple users will relate to this walled garden business now.
Thanks for reminding me of another reason why I don't buy your products
TFA talks about Apple''s desire not to have it's customers electrocute themselves with dodgy, cheap chargers.
TFA (and TFS) talk about the evils of unlicensed cables.
I can get where Apple might come down on the dodgy chargers. At least some had clearances that allowed mains voltages to jump to the charging cable and thence to the unfortunate Apple Fritter. I don't see where the cable itself is involved. I'm thinking that if you put mains voltage on the Official Lightning Cable (TM) it's going to happily conduct the electricity to whatever it's connected to. Or do official cables have a ground fault interrupt circuit in them?
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
From the comments: TFA is wrong. You can still charge. Postpone your panic.
Now you can only use apple brand shovels and rakes in your apple walled garden.
Their phones DO come with a cable. It's not like you have to pay extra to get one. They are just trying to protect their customers from dying because they buy cheap knockoffs.
I'm not sure whom I dislike more, Apple for having the unmitigated audacity to try the Lightning Pin4/Pin8 con job, or Monster Cables, a company that undoubtedly wishes they had thought it up first. I sure hope some independent lab tests will be done soon that show no harm from third party controllers. It would be a real treat to watch consumer legal actions if we knew for certain that the special Apple cables have no technically unique purpose other than to cause consumers to buy them out of FUD.
I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
A person can still use an overpriced official cable from Apple but used a dangerous charger and the dangerous conductive surface of the iPhone. The cable isn't the cause of the safety issue but the cable is what's overpriced so iOS 7 is forcing you to buy the overpriced cables. The official Apple chargers aren't *that* overpriced.
Hahahaha! Ohh, man. heh. hehe.
'Nuff said.
1) Electrically shocked when using a malfunctioning generic cable
2) Financially shocked when you learn what Apple charges for a genuine cable
because their customers expect highly inoperable, competitively priced products from a company that respects them.
Third party/unauthorized cables are still working just fine, they are just popping up the warning. You can see the warning image in the article. It clearly doesn't say anything about blocking the connection, just that it may not work reliably, which is true.
This is just a crap website trying to stir up drama for hits. It goes ever farther by coming up with ridiculous speculation that Apple "may" block more stuff in the future.
Scorta futuere amo!
I wonder how much all the headlines last month about the Chinese woman being electrocuted by an iphone, while apparently using a cheap unauthorized wall charger, had to do with this decision. Perhaps they decided that getting a bruised eye from the press and the public for being called greedy is the better trade-off in the long run.
To a degree, I can not blame them. Years ago I worked for a company that produced an embedded device. One of the largest categories of customer service calls came from people swapping out components with stuff they could by 'cheaper' at their local computer store, and it was OUR fault that it started behaving oddly. Then they would go on forums to complain about crappy our product was, leaving out that they were using some 3rd party cheapie instead of the hardware that we spent hundreds of man hours validating in various combinations.
It was extremely frustrating to deal with, but when we tried to lock down some of the more critical (and high call volume) pieces like hard drives they would then run to forums to complain about our money grab by locking out cheap replacement drives and charging high prices for replacement ones.. even though that high price came from (a) manufacturer custom settings/firmware and (b) a supply guarantee from the manufacturer that we would continue to receive the exact validated model well past it's consumer equivalent would be end of lifed.
So while as a consumer I agree it is annoying, as someone who has been on the other side I can sympathize with wanting to stop people from buying cheap unvalidated 3rd party crap.
I'm tired of paying a premium for stuff which is not actually
any better.
My current phone is an iPhone, but my NEXT phone
will NOT be an iPhone, nor will my next computer be
from Apple.
Are you listening, Tim Cook ? Behavior like making accessories which
did work quit working drives customers away.
The #1 reason I don't use Apple products summed up in one article.
Buying one.
People buying over-priced cell phones that are locked to a carrier so if they decide to change carriers they may or may not be able to use their over-priced cell phones are now going to have to pay for over-priced cables.
Why is anyone surprised by this? Why does anyone other than those who own knockoff cables give a damn?
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
I think this is illegal. After all if I am disabled and depend on my "non-iphone" cable to work, this unfairly discriminates against me.
- d
does not let them pull BS like that.
"Many users with clone cables are now without the ability to charge their iPhones."
Of course, they can use the charger and cable that come with the iPhone, so they always have the ability to charge the phone.
Now, if you had something about aftermarket parts you might have had a valid analogy.
And such an analogy would have two key words: Magnuson-Moss.
Even the term "authorized cable" is enough to make me cringe. It's a FUCKING CABLE. It's the very simplest of electronic devices (if you can even call it a "device"). It has connectors, connected by stranded wires. That's all there is to it. And yet even the humble CABLE can't escape Apple's walled garden. What's next? "Unauthorized" headphones?
This whole custom connector thing is bullshit in the first place. Shouldn't all the data synchronization just happen over the air on your mobile phone? So, what is the primary function of this connector? Charging!
Maybe, they wanted to get rid off the overly complex iPod connector, but why didn't they just replace it with a standard issue Micro-USB connector?
Why not? Because they're dickheads, that's why.
FTFY
Check the price of an Apple charger/cable and a perfectly okay ordinary USB charger/cable.
And who can blame them? They know their audience and that they will pay for it.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
does this cross the line into vertical monopoly territory?
This is a way to crowd out a gaggle of perfectly-good $2 cables in favor of their $20 cables. Personally, I don't like to have to take my cable with my everywhere I go, and I don't want to worry about damaging or losing said, sole cable. I have a charger on my nightstand, one fished in behind the dashboard in my car (so I can use the GPS software, which would otherwise render the battery dead in short order), and one on my desk at work, plus one in my travel bag.
Apple is really pushing to get me onto Android when I'm due for an update next summer.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
apple spent a lot of money in r&d to design that piece of wire an interlocking interface and they should be allowed to recoup that expense without imposters trying to muscle in on their territory with unauthorized fakey cables. if nobody buys the apple authorized equipment for their devices then they won't have the money to produce new and innovative things anymore and we will all be left with just substandard equipment made out of plastic and cheap Korean parts. if you love having a new piece of history every year consider only purchasing authentic apple equipment. do it for the economy. do it for america.
Against my better judgement I bought a iPhone 4S. I have never seen program's crash as often, and the poor battery life quickly deteriorated. Not to mention intermittently losing contacts. Shit phone from a shit company
What else can you say? What can you say about a company that charges $20 for a fucking usb charging cable and then blocks everyone else from making legally compatible cheaper fucking charger cables. Oh right it's for safety... . So now if I upgrade to IOS 7 I have to spend $60 on new cables? This is douchebaggery on a whole other level.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
Damn it, Slashdot, I come here for anti-FUD, not FUD. This is just about the worst confused, untrue FUD article I've ever seen posted here.
Apple are unequivocally NOT "blocking" the use of unauthorized third-party Lightning cables. The summary/title is absolutely 100% bullshit. The article says, and I quote: "Apple will probably shut the door on the usage of [unauthorized third-party Lightning cables] in a future update." (Emphasis mine.) Which is of course a completely baseless supposition by the article author in order to get outrage-clicks. The article also clearly includes a screenshot of the actual informative warning message that pops up, which simply says, "This cable or accessory is not certified and may not work reliably with this iPhone." With a single button that says "Dismiss".
The article also throws third-party USB chargers into the mix which has absolutely nothing to do with the cables, just adding to the confusion. Apple has no way of blocking the use of any kind of USB charger, so it doesn't even belong in this discussion. After the death and coma incidents in China they instituted a trade-in program to garner public good will, where you can buy an Apple charger at half price if you bring in a third-party USB charger, but that is neither here nor there with regard to the Lightning cables.
Look, I will be quite happy to come here and spew hatred and vitriol at Apple along with the rest of you anytime Apple ever actually does something as monumentally stupid as trying to block unauthorized Lightning cables from charging your iPhones. But until then is it really too much to ask that we only spew hatred and vitriol about things that are actually true? This is like spewing hatred at Microsoft because somebody posted a summary claiming Microsoft has kept Elvis imprisoned in their basement in Redmond for the last 40 years, while linking to an article that claims nothing of the sort. *insert WTF face here*
Really, Slashdot? Is this audience really that easy to manipulate into getting outraged by total factless bullshit that isn't even supported by the only link in the summary? Are the editors really not capable of reading a couple of short paragraphs before posting obvious bullshit summaries? (Yeah, I know, must be new around here.)
Slashdot, today, I am disappoint. >:-|
I love reading all the pissing and moaning comments. Last time I looked Apple was number one in customer satisfaction.
Conservative, mod down for violating
iOS 7 only gives warnings about "unauthorized" cables, but still allows you to use them. The article only speculates that future versions of iOS may change this.
I think its ridiculous that they are doing this in an iOS update. I have no problem if they had blocked all these chargers from day 1 as the consumer would have been aware of it when he bought his 3rd party charger and could have returned it. I have for example just bought 50 various lighting adapters and cables for work, and yes I did not spend 50 dollars per adapter, I bought the 3rd party ones for 8 dollars each. I as the consumer will now be screwed as I bought these under the impression that they would work and they have now been blocked via an iOS update. Nowhere did I sign a agreement with Apple when I purchase my companies iPhones where I said I would only use a official Apple charger with my device, so its not like I have done something wrong which Apple has now "corrected".
Apple did this to me on my old 3gs years ago. Cables worked fine one day, update, then they stop.
They can kiss my butt. FCC should be involved.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Unauthorized works for usb to my computer. I have not tried it charging. I have a mac cable (that came with my ipad) for charging and a cheap cable to hook up usb.
I remember a little while ago someone managed to electrocute themselves with an unauthorized cable/charger on an iphone. That may have played into them doing this with IOS7.
AdFuel
This is why I propose Apple should not only block unauthorized and dangerous cables, they should start selling Apple certified electrical outlets with computer chips in them that authenticate them as being the real deal. This will not only prevent people from using dangerous counterfeit electrical outlets, but give Apple an opportunity to block dangerous counterfeit smartphones from being charged on the safe and authentic electrical outlets.
Subject says it all. Vote with your wallet and don't buy this stuff.
You couldn't PAY ME to use anything Apple makes.
I have to ask the same thing - is there something seriously wrong and dangerous about Apple products??
Three Squirrels
the cable only costs $50 and that's because it looks "cool" and I'm gonna run out of the store having queued overnight to buy one waving it about like a fool and hopefully I'll be on the news tomorrow evening.
Evil.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Another marvelous reason to skip Apple products.
They just keep coming.
1. A lightning connector has the capability to muliplex most of the 30 pins of the old dock connector down to 4 pins. It has to support a lot more functionality for backward compatibility with peripherals than USB sync and charge. The only functionality the dropped with lightning was their old car kit integration, which has been replaced by BT integration and iTunes in the Car. Everything else still works on a lightning cable with an adapter. Pretending that its a 1:1 functionality match to a micro-USB cable is a misrepresentation of what the cable does.
You can debate the merits of preserving backward compatibility with the large installed base of iPod peripherals - but Apple are damned if they do and damned if they don't here - either they broke compatibility and went to micro-USB, leading to greater damage to end users and companies they had partnered with, OR they maintain that, and keep to a proprietary connector. The other option would be a micro-USB connector that was a superset of USB functionality and did the multiplexing , and that would confuse people more - at least the way the picked its an "iPhone cable" and no-one mistakes it for USB.
2. Crappy 3rd party accessories generate support calls,fail in nasty intermittent and hard to track down ways, and in some cases injure and kill people. All of these things screw users over, and damage Apple's reputation. Not all 3rd party accessories are crappy or dangerous of course, but most people can't troubleshoot the issue down to the cable, nor can they differentiate between a high quality and a low quality cable. Many people here can, but they aren't representative of the population at large. Claiming that all, or even most, 3rd party cables are equivalent in terms of functionality & reliability is just plain wrong. Car manufacturers have a similar problem - whilst some service parts from 3rd parties are the same of better quality than what the manufacturer ships, there is no way the customer can easily tell those ones from cheap copies that damage the car (eg selling after market plastic fuel lines that are much cheaper than the OEM part, but dissolve in contact with high ethanol fuel used in some countries) Actually having a vendor try to demonstrate some quality control on the peripheral market is likely a good thing for consumers on average.
3. They aren't blocking 3rd party cables or removing functionality after the fact (they COULD, but their actions so far are not). They throw a dialog if the devices thinks the cable isn't one that went through their Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod licensing and certification program - which means it presents an invalid vendor ID from the multiplexor. Thats it. Why would they do this ? Maybe it is to make the users aware that they AREN'T using an licensed cable. Note that they are informing, but not controlling, the end user's choice here. Almost all cases of damage and injury to their very likely come from cheap copy cables and chargers. Anyone who has ever worked in customer support in IT knows how often this happens with all vendors.
4. Apple's branded cables are all 1 price, regardless of length. Licenced 3rd party cables under MFi come in a wide range of lengths/colours/sizes/thickness/prices that Apple's own cables don't. Many of them are cheaper than Apple's ( down to half the price - around the $10-12 mark in some cases ), quite a few of them are more expensive as well (eg when they are integrated into the charger, rather than a USB connection from the charger)
For one thing, as iPads can pull 12 W/2.1 A on full charge, a cheap cable designed for 500 mW USB connectivity may fail over time in a way that something that took this into account did not.
I have read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance as many times as the next guy, but a lot of comments here contain criticisms that really lack any critical thinking or awareness of facts - they are criticising things that are possible, but are not currently true, or things that have never been true.
I love reading all the pissing and moaning comments. Last time I looked Apple was number one in customer satisfaction.
http://ondeviceresearch.com/blog/iphone-5-ranked-fifth-in-user-satisfaction%2C-behind-four-android-powered-devices#sthash.sahmO01X.dpbs here is the iPhone coming 5th behind four android models.
And I suspect that someone circumventing Apple's cable DRM can use this case as a precedent;
Utter, utter, utter ****s
My UID is prime!
This sounds like the kind of BS Apple would do, and is exactly the reason I'm not interested in spending any of my hard earned money on iJunk.
From what people who have tried this have said elsewhere - it doesn't "block" anything - but pops up a message that says it may be unreliable. However - I haven't tried it. Just thought that it might be good for others to actually check the facts who can.
Oh - hang on - sorry - wrong forum - this is /. ;-)
They can only do it now because of the auth chip in lightning cables, old style 30 pins cables have no method of checking for authenticity. You may have had old cables that charged via firewire, which wouldn't work with newer devices though. There were plenty of third party cables you could buy for dirt cheap (seriously, shipping is and was more then the cables!), and the firewire variety weren't common after the first ipods got usb charging capability.
"goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
Apple and innovation certainly don't seem to be friends anymore.
Apple Inc.'s days are numbered and reducing at an ever increasing rate!
Look at "Research In Motion" now Blackberry Limited. What a name! So apropos.
I was doing some research today, off site and not payed for but just out of curiosity; well, one needs to find channels for abilities and skills, when the "Man" does not request.
On average there appears to be an 8-year period of expansion and extension regarding mobile telecommunications devices after initiation: Palm, BlackBerry (variants of Microsoft PDA et al. serve as the rule) and now enters iPhone (Apple Inc.).
Following this 8-year period there is a sharp drop! The "drop" is the market share, company stock price, and "coolness" of the device.
On stock charts for instance the 8-year period looks like a "ramp" and the 'drop' is a sudden drop of the line to much lower levels and before delisting.
Blackberry Limited is now going through the 'drop' and their projections indicate that they will burn through their cash by November 2013.
They are in a mode of "desperation" as they try to find a buyer. A buyer would have emerged if Blackberry Limited had a robust Patent Portfolio. Because a buyer has not stepped forward indicates that Blackberry Limited has NO Patent Portfolio: That is owned by OTHERS.
What does this mean for Apple Inc.?
Much!
Apple Inc. has lost MUCH talent in the last 14 months!
Turnover can kill a great company! Ah Ha! Research In Motion, is the example.
Apple Inc. iPhone 5s and 5c are examples of the "plateau" for such companies.
The downward slope follows for Apple Inc.. Why? Talent! Apple Inc. is driving away their Talent and other wise their Talent dies (Jobs).
On January 10, 2007 I happened to be browsing an Electronics Store in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan when Jobs, in San Francisco on Jan. 9, made the introduction of the iPhone. And the store was streaming recordings of the web broadcast on LED displays all around the 'Computer' section of the floor.
What a moment for sure!
The 8-year rule indicates Apple Inc. has a very short shelf life and their success is far behind them!
Why? The talent they have not driven off today is far below the talent they have today and no where near the talent they had in the 6-months before January 10 2007.
My stock money is not riding on Apple Inc. :)
apple just want to make more money and is using any old excuse to do so. Why would they want to use a normal USB standard like everyone else when there's millions of apple morons who'll believe whatever apple tell them to believe. morons.
Another /. Link that attracts anti apple people who don't RTFA.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
The article is titles "Apple blocks unauthorized Lightning cables with iOS 7" but presents no evidence of blocking. The last sentence of the first paragraph is "Apple will probably shut the door on the usage of the latter in a future update." which implies that they have not done so already.
The article plainly LIES.
Years ago i owned a 1GB iPod Shuffle... here in New Zealand it cost $75 (not too bad i thought).
Somehow the plug which goes into the audio plug on the Shuffle to charge it, broke... so i looked at replacement chargers... $60 from Apple (yes the player with charger was $75)
heres a picture of the charger if anyone isnt sure what i meant http://i.imgur.com/n8QEUwJ.jpg
It's not FUD article, it's a LYING article.
The more I read slashdot, the more I want to use apple products. Slashdot users posess so much utter cluelessness and arrogance that it's just amazing.
Stop circlejerking with Stallman for a minute and realize that the cable that electrocuted the Chinese woman was the old 30-pin connector. I hated Lightning at first, but once you start using it, it's way nicer than Micro USB. Also, good on them for blocking counterfeit Chinese cables -- they're shitty and will probably malfunction anyhow.
I thought that Apple had agreed some time ago to the microUSB standard as a joint effort by phone manufacturers to reduce waste. It shouldn't be called the Lightning cable.. it should be called the 'fuck you planet' cable... Forgive me while I quietly giggle from the outside at all the people who buy into the closed off system, he said, typing from his Linux machine.
All this complaining about $30 cables is ridiculous. Plenty of places, amazon included, sell $10-$12 properly licensed and approved lightning cables in various lengths.
This entire thread is just misinformed FUD. Of course the subject is apple so what's new? God forbid we argue based on facts and data.
The phone comes with an authorized cable. So no one should be without a way to charge their phone.
And beyond that, the article says unauthorized cables aren't locked out, just a warning comes up. The summary incorrectly changes this to say the cables are locked out.
Pathetic coverage, slashdot.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
"Many users with clone cables are now without the ability to charge their iPhones."
Why is that, did they all just throw away the cables that came with their phone? I'm sure there are a few people who lost theirs, but overall that statement is unfounded.
In Australia ISP chargers are quite expensive.
I knew someone many years ago who used to receive spindle packs holding 50 DVDs full of pirated material from someone in USA via mail.
It was a lot cheaper and quicker than trying to find and download that material from local connections. This person in USA apparently had a pretty fast connection (and a lot of time on their hands).
My third party cables work fine in ios 7. Imagine if someone posted this same article about Samsung. It would be as much bullshit as this one.
My cheapie cable and charger charge my iphone5 on ios7 just fine. I get a warning but it charges.
Long time reader, no account, but I just had to write something here regarding the comments posted thus far.
I have owned the iPhone 5 for one year now. It came with a wall plug and lightning cable. It has never broken, and works perfectly. When I wanted an extra one to keep in my car, I picked up one from FutureShop (here) when it went on sale for $12.99. The price was so good for a MFi (Made For iDevice) certified cable, that I bought two of them. Neither have broken. I treat them well. One stays in the car and the other stays at work.
I could have easily bought 10 for $0.89 USD each (here) from China but my experience with the cheap cables from China is that they work for a while then just suddenly stop. They don't handle wear and tear quite so well and the wires inside break near either end. Sometimes the Chinese cables only allow syncing and sometimes they only allow charging. It all depends on the supplier. I've ordered enough of these over the years to know a bad product when I see one.
For my American friends, hit up Monoprice: here or here will have you up and running with a MFi certified cable (so no blocking with iOS 7), and it'll cost you $12. This is a totally reasonable price considering the quality of almost everything Monoprice carries. They run an honest business and I even go so far as to pay the shipping, handling, and import duties just to get their products into Canada.
For the haters out there, I also own several other phones: a BlackBerry Curve (OS 7), a Samsung Galaxy S (CyanogenMod), LG Optimus Windows Phone (OS 7.8). All of those phones charge by standard micro USB but for spare cables and wall plugs I use exclusively BlackBerry chargers. Why? Because without the packaging, they're $12.99 in Canada. The cable itself is thick and sturdy, and the wall plug isn't one of those cheap knock-offs that puts out more noise than anything else, nor does it heat up to the point of discolouring the USB cable. Yes, I've used wall chargers like that.
It's an expensive device and you want to charge it via the magic of electricity. Spend the money and get the right cable.
such charger have existed for a long time. I have about half a dozen ranging from 200 mA to 1A for various devices. I don't see people dying in mass. But that's because those charger are CHEAP (and they mostly use this male/female classical connector). So there is no need for chinese knock off. On the other hand Apple created a market for dangerous chinese knock off : 1) proprietary connector 2) expansive charger. Just saying, if they had a classical or normal USB connector the whole story would not even exists. Neither the story about electrocution for apple product, nor "proprietary cable".
Not to interrupt all the bitching with facts, but I just plugged my cheap knock off lightning cable into my iPhone 5, recently updated to iOS 7, and it works just fine.
Stating charging cable would be more correct.
And denying use completely would be incorrect because that will just irritate everyone trying to charge their device through USB outlets in cars etc.
What they can do is to instead have a blacklist of known bad/dangerous devices combined with a warning for unknown.
And it will just raise the stakes for Chinese copies to use cloned ID chips too.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
According to the Steve Jobs biography, the switched power supply was invented by a contractor for the Apple II in the mid 1970s.
Is apple collecting a database of device serial numbers used with un- authorised devices so they can deny warranty claims?
Also useful to avoid paying funeral expenses
the apple approved cable costs 169 Swedish kronor and the one not approved by apple costs 25 Swedish kronor
Mendacem Memorem Esse Oportet
Simple Fix, IF you don't like it no longer buy their products, apple has its die-hard fans but not enough, just a 5% drop is sales would be enough to make them re-think thier idea's.
If apple cant sell them I'm quite sure you will find very soon that they will be compatible with everything.
So you all obviously heard about the Chinese woman who electrocuted herself using a third party USB charger. Following this Apple offered a FREE trade in for any third party charger for one of Apples TESTED chargers. So instead of jumping on your self righteous high horses, why don't you start reading beyond the headlights and get ALL the facts to the WHOLE picture (story). Geez I'm sick of haters. Find something to do with this ONLY life you have to live. It's okay not to like Apple. But stop moaning about them.
I blame the continued infection of society by Apple garbage on dirty hipster idiots to whom iDevices are social status symbols...
In a strong move in favor of consumer protection today Apple stopped counterfeit lighting cables from connection to Apple devices. "This should remove all the risks Apple user face when using these cables, like electrical damage, snooping and viruses. ...err strike that last one, it's not supposed to be possible on iPhone."
I will wait 10 months for it in the rain in the cold, standing in line.
How can Android users charge their phones without some chip checking if they are even authorized to use this charger whith that phone? All those Android phones working with all those Micro USB chargers from hundreds of companies. There must be 10s of thousands of deaths already.
SEE! This is what I've been trying to tell the knuckleheads from the beginning.
First it was a one button mouse and no console app.
Then it was a parade of proprietary hardware, software,bugs, slow updates, high prices, broken promises, bitter disappointment, grievous failure, scandalous deception, all funded by the trendy faithful taken in by slick ads, peer pressure and bovine zealotry.
Now the albatross has come home to roost over the stoop and shit on the walk. Proprietary cabling. Well, suckers you funded this state of evolution, bathe in it. Wallow in the deep rich brown corn riddled deep of the fruit of your desires. BWAHAHAHA!
I purchased Lightning to USB cables on Dealyup.com last week during a sale for a whopping $2 each, and guess what - as of right now, even after the latest update, they work fine for both charging and syncing.
If Apple is on the warpath about anything, it's the actual wall charger. The woman that was electrocuted in China three weeks ago was killed by a shoddily made third party wall charger that exposed her to full outlet current - not 5 volt USB.
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
Two birds with one stone there. Get a safety reputation by those who arent cynical enough to look for ulterior motives and maybe get a few good headlines in the process... And kill off cheap competitors cutting into margin
Apple 0.5 meter Lightning - USB-A cable for iPhone 5: http://store.apple.com/us/product/ME291ZM/A/lightning-to-usb-cable $19
Apple 2.0 meter Lightning - USB-A cable for iPhone 5: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD819ZM/A/lightning-to-usb-cable-2-m $29
Google (LG) 1.2 meter USB-Micro to USB-A cable for Nexus 4: https://play.google.com/store/devices/details/Nexus_4_Micro_USB_Cable?id=nexus_4_usb_cable $9.99
Note that if your Nexus 4 cable breaks you can go and get a standard USB-Micro to USB-A cable at walgreens, most grocery stores, the home depot, most anywhere -- your mom probably has one in her junk drawer. The apple stuff is harder to find, and more expensive.
Also consider the cost to replace the power brick for a macbook pro, with that stupid mag-safe connector. Another proprietary nightmare at $79.
If I want a power brick for a ThinkPad, Amazon's got 'em for $39. And the ThinkPad power brick uses an industry-standard IEC C5 power connector on the input side, if I want to travel abroad with my ThinkPad, all I need to get is a local power cord.
Oh yeah, I can replace the battery in my ThinkPads myself in seconds. The Macbook Pro? Maybe in an hour, if I don't loose any of the screws.
there are 3 kinds of people:
* those who can count
* those who can't
screw that, if apple made lightning claws then id pay whatever they damn well asked, cables be damned
Isn't this practice pretty much de facto "tying", which is illegal under the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Act? I mean, if the company blocks non-Apple cables, isn't that awfully close to the "mandatory purchase" scenario that those two laws prohibit? Any lawyers care to opine?
You have to loose the screws to replace the battery. It's part of the process.
http://macdailynews.com/2013/07/15/apple-to-probe-electric-shock-death-of-chinese-woman-who-used-iphone-5-while-it-was-charging/
How isn't this anti-competitive?
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
$5 and they would get no complaints from me for this move.
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I'm pretty sure this got pushed faster because of the incident of the electrocution happen a few weeks ago.
My lightning connector came in the sealed, unopened factory (Apple) box along with the brand new iPad purchased in July. So I guess I should be "original" and certified by Apple, after all it was supplied with the iPad, I didn't purchased apart from another manufacturer, which doesn't make sense for a new product.
Post: Samsung and HTC develop replacement for fragile MicroUSB connector. Won't licence to third parties.
Comments:
-- Makes sense, those surface-mount connectors are only good for a few thousand duty cycles, good riddance.
-- Awesome! Means we can have USB3 speeds and charging current without that bulky connector!
-- Nobody's upset about the fact they won't licence it?
-- -- Shut up idiot.
-- -- Yeah, who cares what they do, at least they aren't Apple or Microsoft!
-- -- -- CRAPPLE MICRO$OFT fanboy trash, I will murder your babies!
-- Micro USB is fine on my HTC HD 3D DVD THREE GEE LTE DVD with Cyanogen hourlies brainfuck kernel speedhacks donkeypunch SenseUI Play Market Merged 3.4.552.24265463.4, and I only pulled the battery twice today.
So the phone COMES with a cable. How are people now unable to charge their phones? They spend hundreds of dollars (per MONTH!) on this phone and they try to save $5.00 on a cable that they ALREADY LOST? Let's get a bit real here. An unauthorized charger has BURNED people. (Yes I know it was the CHARGER but there may be something in the authorized cables that correct this and no one knows if the CABLES used by these unauthorized chargers were actually Apple or at fault) Apple is in protection mode - yes a bit anal about control but look at the END RESULT - for the most part Apple products just work for people. Not as customizable as some would like but certainly USEFUL and USABLE.
So try not to lose your cable and if you do get an Apple one for a few dollars more. No harm no foul.
Based on the premium pricing Apple charges for iPhone, it make sense Apple provide free lightning cables for life, no?