When Apple initially launched Thunderbolt, it looked as though the single-connector laptop, integrating data and video, had arrived. But then came reality:
1) Thunderbolt can't power the laptop, so it's a two-cable connection.
2) Everything Thunderbolt is vastly more expensive - cables, displays, hard disks, etc.
3) USB 3.0 arrived on virtually all PC desktops and laptops, and even on Apple's laptops. It uses an existing connector and offers 5 Gbit/second. And there are no current scenarios for transmitting more than 5 Gbit/second over a cable, unless it's video.
4) Intel has promised to double USB 3.0 speeds to 10 Gbit/second, which is about equal to Thunderbolt.
5) Unless you have a Thunderbolt display, there are virtually no Thunderbolt hubs. So you can't, for instance, use Thunderbolt Ethernet and an external display at the same time. Unless your laptop has two Thunderbolt ports.
So this all leads me to believe that Thunderbolt has failed. Between the exorbitant costs of cables and accessories, and the virtually ubiquitous availability of affordable, acceptably-fast USB 3.0 peripherals, there seems to be no reason left for Thunderbolt, and it is likely to become extinct.
Much as I pine for a single-cable laptop connection, it doesn't look like Thunderbolt is going to survive. What say you?
