This might not end well with easily half the hotels I stay in now having Apple compatible dock alarm clocks.

I'd like them to use the same connector as a ton of other cameras and phones. I have half a dozen of those f*cking cables and only one iPhone cable.

I know! Dropping a proprietary connector they've used for the past decade. The nerve.

Great so the iPod/iPhone connectivity in my car will be dead, I guess I will have to upgrade my car when I upgrade my phone that seems like a good idea.

I have an iPod touch and its cable doesn't charge my iPhone.

Oakenshield: I know! Dropping a proprietary connector they've used for the past decade. The nerve.

Don't be shocked if they drop one proprietary connector for another proprietary connector.

Third on microUSB. It works fine on everything else.

/then again, that means they don't get to charge out the ass for their own cables.

Heh. The concept iPhone at the bottom: 'iPhone 5G'.

I know these sorts of things are rendered by designers who aren't necessarily too tech-savvy, but the '5G' made me laugh. There isn't even a 4G iPhone yet, nor any sort of technology that would qualify as '5G' even on the horizon - the next development is going to be LTE-Advanced, which is sort of '4.5G' (an improvement to the LTE technology which is, itself, still being rolled out).

Not sure if they are sold in the US as it was an EU regulatory directive.

Any chance that it will be a Thunderbolt+power combo? If they did that, it would enable video out (and support DRM). It would also support much faster data transfers than USB.

FlashHarry: Farkn Yaj Yenrac: I have an iPod touch and its cable doesn't charge my iPhone.

then the cable is bad or the phone is bad. the cables are the same.

yeah, the cable/block that came with my iPhone 3Gs doesn't charge my iPhone (but works on an iPod). But my iPod one did.


/my wife's 3Gs cable/block works on both phones. !!!

Subby, I hate Apple as much as the next red-blooded American but I think this was a bit of a stretch.

Harvey Manfrenjensenjen: Any chance that it will be a Thunderbolt+power combo? If they did that, it would enable video out (and support DRM). It would also support much faster data transfers than USB.

I can't imagine that happening until thunderbolt completely displaces USB in the PC market. Otherwise, they'd have to supply everyone with adapters or deal with complaints and returns from most of their customer base.

Tom_Slick: Great so the iPod/iPhone connectivity in my car will be dead, I guess I will have to upgrade my car when I upgrade my phone that seems like a good idea.

I suspect that every 5 years dashboard computer/navigation systems will be made obsolete by the "next big thing".

The magnetic power cable on my macbook works great, and can't be ripped apart accidentally (you know how easy it is to make that happen) or pull the computer down when you trip over it. I know there were some incidents in the past, though.

Deadfeznt: you'll get over it

Once this insanely overpriced phone contract is up, I certainly will.

TNel: I second the micro-usb thing. I mean that is almost industry standard now can't they all just use the same? I love having the same plug to charge our phones and our tablet and not having to have spare charges all over the place.

Yeah that's what we have too, just a bunch of micro usb cables in random outlets in almost every room, makes it a lot easier than when I used to have to track one down since the step kid left his at his fathers house.

It appears apple wants to kickstart their market if devices sold along with licensing fees.

Abe Vigoda's Ghost: When Apple goes to a micro USB connector, and adds a MicroSD card slot, then I might look at an iPhone again.

Bahahaha. Might as well be asking for world peace.

Farkn Yaj Yenrac: I have an iPod touch and its cable doesn't charge my iPhone.

You're doing it wrong.

I have a 4th gen Nano cable, as well as my iJesusPhone 4 cable, both are interchangeable.

I saw this rumor on other Apple blogs last week and it's so thinly sourced it might as well be a what-if. There's no indication Apple is actually doing this.

my iphone ac adapter charges my kindle, which is great because amazon got stingy and doesn't include a charger with the kindle.

TNel: I second the micro-usb thing. I mean that is almost industry standard now can't they all just use the same? I love having the same plug to charge our phones and our tablet and not having to have spare charges all over the place.

I think the EU is mandating this as a standard for all cell phones, so expect apple to follow suit for iphones, at least for charging.


/CSB Time

I once plugged my firewire ipod into my hotel's ipod-dock capable alarm clock. Since it wasn't a usb ipod, the pinouts were different, and not only did it crash my ipod, it wouldn't charge, and it sucked the battery dry. Awesome.

So, Apple's obsession with making thinner and thinner devices has finally doomed the Dock Connector.

Don't worry. After the next iPod redesign, they'll all use the smaller connector, too.

This is all terribly upsetting.

Farkn Yaj Yenrac: I have an iPod touch and its cable doesn't charge my iPhone.

I have an iPod Classic and my wife's iPod touch cable doesn't charge my iPod Classic.

Honest Bender: Not really. In all my life I've never accidentally ripped apart a cable/computer. Then again, I'm not the kind of tard that has to buy Apple products.

Same here, I normally predict the location of my arms and legs and stop them if I predict they will impact something. That and I use my eyes...

Oh noes I might have to go to monoprice and buy an adapter for $5.

Wait, I don't have an iPhone. Whew.

IrateShadow: Harvey Manfrenjensenjen: Any chance that it will be a Thunderbolt+power combo? If they did that, it would enable video out (and support DRM). It would also support much faster data transfers than USB.

I can't imagine that happening until thunderbolt completely displaces USB in the PC market. Otherwise, they'd have to supply everyone with adapters or deal with complaints and returns from most of their customer base.

If you always have to do something via USB "until the alternative displaces USB", then there is no reason or opportunity for anything to replace USB. Apple has proved for a long time that it doesn't care what the most ubiquitous option is, it's going for what it thinks is best (of course, most of the time it happens to be something they designed or lifted, but still...). And unlike FireWire, I think Thunderbolt actually stands a good chance of displacing USB because it's both much faster and far more versatile. But back to your point, putting Thunderbolt in their mobile devices would be just the launching pad for their move to displace USB, even if they had to spend an extra 86 cents per device to throw in an adapter.

FuturePastNow: So, Apple's obsession with making thinner and thinner devices has finally doomed the Dock Connector.

Don't worry. After the next iPod redesign, they'll all use the smaller connector, too.

Until there is some huge leap in materials engineering, I don't see things getting much thinner simply because the case itself needs some sort of structural integrity. Gorilla Glass is strong when you hit it straight on, but can it handle much torque? That might change with the display film, but it seems to me that once you've hit a sweet spot on the thinness, you go for trying to cram more (read: battery) into the existing space.

I know the 30-pin connector was meant to give plenty of room to move sound, video, data out to accessories but seriously, how many of those pins are in use?

Tax Boy: my iphone ac adapter charges my kindle, which is great because amazon got stingy and doesn't include a charger with the kindle.

I got a charger with my Kindle.

Phil Moskowitz: Abe Vigoda's Ghost: When Apple goes to a micro USB connector, and adds a MicroSD card slot, then I might look at an iPhone again.

Bahahaha. Might as well be asking for world peace.

Im pretty sure the Lakers are willing to deal him.

Abe Vigoda's Ghost: When Apple goes to a micro USB connector, and adds a MicroSD card slot, then I might look at an iPhone again.

And can replace the battery pack in under 30 seconds.

I have spare batteries for both my Samsung Galaxy S and my Blackberry Torch. I most often need a spare when I am traveling by plane and can't find an energized wall socket for my USB charger at an airport, or don't have enough time to get a full charge. The extra few millimeters in thickness that a removable battery adds to do the size of the phone is worth it, IMHO.

You can buy iPod/iPhone/iPad cables from China for less than $1 each. I have the retractable kind scattered all over my house, car, and work.

I use this kind of connector much more frequently than micro-USB, which I also have several of for charging PS3 controllers, and well, that's about it.

Terrified Asexual Forcemeat: The magnetic power cable on my macbook works great, and can't be ripped apart accidentally (you know how easy it is to make that happen) or pull the computer down when you trip over it.

Sounds like you live an intense lifestyle. Or need to cut down on the blow.

Mike Chewbacca: Tax Boy: my iphone ac adapter charges my kindle, which is great because amazon got stingy and doesn't include a charger with the kindle.

I got a charger with my Kindle.

the new kindles (the $79 one and the touch) don't come with a charger included. cheap bastards.

Babwa Wawa: How about Micro-USB like the rest of the damned industry?

fark microUSB and fark the jackass who thought using a USB port as the default charging interface was a good idea! fark him right in his stupid ass!

It's too damn fragile for a port that gets connected and disconnected many times a day as they do on today's power-hungry smartphones. My very first cell phone back in the 90s used pogo pins to provide power for charging and I never had to worry about the connection wearing out. My Ericsson and Sony-Ericsson phones used a modified version with more pins that added data capabilities. They were designed so that the cord would break away from the phone with no damage at all and, if anything did get damaged somehow, it would be the $ cable, not the $$$ phone. And none of my USB smartphones can keep up with the current draw when being used in full power mode while connected to a 500ma USB port. Using them as a hotspot with the screen on draws more power than a USB port can provide. I have to carry their proprietary chargers around to get enough current to keep my head above water.

While I haven't had any problems with my USB-ported phones breaking, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see that these connections aren't as robust as the ones we had back in the day. Even more annoying is the fact that my current phone can be charged with pogo pins, the manufacturer doesn't sell any cradles in the US that use these pins.

t3knomanser: My prediction: no connector. Inductive charging + wireless syncing makes a connector superfluous. If not on this iteration, then certainly on the next one. But if they're ditching the 30-pin connector now, I can't see them standardizing on a new connector just to ditch that.

I look forward to the nerdrage over the fact that the iGadget doesn't have any connectors for anything but headphones. And man, will there be nerdrage.

Headphones were one of the first consumer electronics to go wireless. If they are going to eliminate all the other ports/connectors, don't you think they'd get rid of the headphone jack port as well?

/not an engineer