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My guess is they'll make something like that micro USB to dock connector adaptor. We all know how much Apple loves adaptors! :)

I don't think they can reasonably dump the dock connector in favor of micro USB. Aside from the licensing fees Apple collects and the existing ecosystem of products that use it, the dock connector supports thinks like video and audio out, I don't believe micro USB supports that.
 
It is not compulsory for manufacturers to adopt the new chargers but the ITU says that some have already signed up to it.

Not compulsory, I bet Apple holds out for a good while then.

I'll deal though. One of my favourite things about my iPhone is that practically everyone I know has an iPod, so if my phone's ever running low I just borrow their cable. And I'm always around computers, so I just carry the cable in my bag and plug it in if I need to charge.

On a side note, I liked how the first words of the caption are "future handsets" and the photo is of some phones from about 2001.
 
To be honest, I think they'd rather be able to have access to a market of 500 million than stick to their "selling point". If they don't do it, they can't sell the iPhone in the EU.

You clearly don't understand Apple's company model

It's about quality ( and quality control ) over quantity to them.

Apple has never been a company that tries to go after the lowest common denominator. They have been applauded and jeered for having a closed, overly tight system of control and limited open source compatibility.
 
You clearly don't understand Apple's company model

It's about quality ( and quality control ) over quantity to them.

Apple has never been a company that tries to go after the lowest common denominator. They have been applauded and jeered for having a closed, overly tight system of control and limited open source compatibility.

So you really think that they'll stop selling the iPhone in the EU because of this?
 
You've all missed the biggest part of this news...

Adapters are allowed.

So the photoshopped mini-USB port is most likely the solution Apple will provide...to Europeans. But not to anyone else.
 
Apple has too many third-party products that customers have purchased over the years that exclusively use their proprietary docking connector. If they switch it over to a microusb, then customers who are upgrading from previous generation iPhone models are looking at having to purchase all new peripherals for their new phone. That's not advantageous for Apple in any sort of way. And you better believe people will place the blame straight on Apple and not recognize the pressures that was put on them to make the change. Some customers might use that as the final tipping point to move them to another phone. Competition will be the highest over the next few years as WebOS and Droid start competing heavily with the iPhone.

Plus, correct me if I'm wrong, can you send audio through a microusb connection while continuing to charge? That's one advantage of the current dock connector is being able to play music and other functions while charging/staying charged at the same time. I'm not sure if that's possible with microusb.
 
Whatever :apple: does, whatever cable is required (so long as it's still a cable), monoprice.com will have it cheap. ;)

It would be nice of Apple (read: convenient for us) to play nice with standards that most of the rest of Earth already plays nice with. I'd personally be fine w/ a dock connector/microUSB adapter thingy but can't see this happening. Apple is a market with enough superiority to continue to do things however they desire, which usually means a way that keeps them unique and w/ a fat bottom line. And we, as devoted Apple users, are fine w/ that. Right? :D
 
Interesting how MicroUSB is the standard. Probably more common in Europe because I have like one device with micro USB...the majority of stuff I have is mini USB.

I don't think microUSB will be on the iPhone...then again, I didn't think they would replace the expresscard slot on the macbooks...

From a design standpoint it would look kind of ugly with the currently shiny plastic design.
 
Whatever :apple: does, whatever cable is required (so long as it's still a cable), monoprice.com will have it cheap. ;)

It would be nice of Apple (read: convenient for us) to play nice with standards that most of the rest of Earth already plays nice with. I'd personally be fine w/ a dock connector/microUSB adapter thingy but can't see this happening. Apple is a market with enough superiority to continue to do things however they desire, which usually means a way that keeps them unique and w/ a fat bottom line. And we, as devoted Apple users, are fine w/ that. Right? :D

apple doesn't make the accessories

i just bought an iphone USB cable with a car and wall charger for $6.63 on Ebay. it's like $19 just for the cable at the apple store and there is nothing special about it.

steve jobs likes thin and the micro-usb connector means a thicker iphone

and the iphone is designed to be used with some of the cool small stereos unlike other cell phones and the micro-usb connector will kill that feature
 
apple doesn't make the accessories

i just bought an iphone USB cable with a car and wall charger for $6.63 on Ebay. it's like $19 just for the cable at the apple store and there is nothing special about it.

steve jobs likes thin and the micro-usb connector means a thicker iphone

and the iphone is designed to be used with some of the cool small stereos unlike other cell phones and the micro-usb connector will kill that feature


Do you have any idea how small and thing a micro USB port is. I am looking on my curve 8900 (13.5 mm thick compared to the iPhones 12.3) and guess waht they could easily shave 5 MM off the device and still have plenty of room for the port.

Mini USB you might have a point but not with micro. Give you an idea on the size of micro USB look at the docking point on the iPhone. Micro USB is a hair thicker.
If you want more proof it will fit. A head phone jack it thicker than the micro USB port. if apple can fit a head phone jack in the iphone they sure as hell can fit a micro USB port in it as well.
 
Apple pledged to include a possibility to charge an iPhone, bought in the EU, via Micro-USB. And from the time frame, they will have to offer this already for the 4th generation iPhone.
And like stated before, they are aloud to use adaptors. And my guess is that's what will happen, like the special charger they sell with US iPhones.
 
Apple pledged to include a possibility to charge an iPhone, bought in the EU, via Micro-USB. And from the time frame, they will have to offer this already for the 4th generation iPhone.
And like stated before, they are aloud to use adaptors. And my guess is that's what will happen, like the special charger they sell with US iPhones.

I honestly hope they bring it to the US as well. Micro-USB I think is by far better than what they currently use as I have multiple devices that already use micro USB.
 
You've all missed the biggest part of this news...

Adapters are allowed.

So the photoshopped mini-USB port is most likely the solution Apple will provide...to Europeans. But not to anyone else.

But what will the rest get? I don't think Apple would differentiate the cables by having so many different plugs and stuff.
 
Do you honestly see Apple cluttering up their design with a port that the majority of people will not use?

I think a majority of people would start using it tell you the truth and it would not be cluttered.
The suppling the adaptor defeats the purpose this new standard of reducing waste. If you took the time to look back when this standard was first announce the purpose of it was to reduce waste of cell phone chargers. After a few years the plan was for the manufactures to stop supplying chargers with there cell phones. Lets face it how many useless cell phone chargers do you have lying around around now that have no use on your current phone. For me I have at least 8 that I know of that do not work on my current phone.

Other nice thing is it means people could use a standard cable to connect the iPhone to a computer with out having to carry around a bunch of extra crap.
 
Apple has too many third-party products that customers have purchased over the years that exclusively use their proprietary docking connector. If they switch it over to a microusb, then customers who are upgrading from previous generation iPhone models are looking at having to purchase all new peripherals for their new phone. That's not advantageous for Apple in any sort of way. And you better believe people will place the blame straight on Apple and not recognize the pressures that was put on them to make the change. Some customers might use that as the final tipping point to move them to another phone. Competition will be the highest over the next few years as WebOS and Droid start competing heavily with the iPhone.

Plus, correct me if I'm wrong, can you send audio through a microusb connection while continuing to charge? That's one advantage of the current dock connector is being able to play music and other functions while charging/staying charged at the same time. I'm not sure if that's possible with microusb.

yeah, you're wrong.

Have you ever looked at what's on the other side of your dock connector cable? It's USB. USB (including micro-USB) can do everything the dock connector can do.

Also apple already announced that they will be providing a micro-USB to dock connector adapter starting next year with all their iPhones.

The end.
 
yeah, you're wrong.

Have you ever looked at what's on the other side of your dock connector cable? It's USB. USB (including micro-USB) can do everything the dock connector can do.

Also apple already announced that they will be providing a micro-USB to dock connector adapter starting next year with all their iPhones.

The end.

USB actually uses very few wires, fewer than what is visible on the current dock connector on my iPhone. So, I would suspect that the current connector cable doesn't use all the capability of the plug on the phone. Some, for example, provide sound for connecting to car radios, for example.

Now, if future devices are designed as USB capable devices, they could do many of the current functions currently done with the iPhone. If you convert to data, you can do many things, including audio.

And is this micro-USB to dock connector you are talking about a way to provide the current dock interface to an iPhone that only has a micro-usb plug? Or a way to provide a micro-usb plug to an existing iPhone by plugging into the dock connector?
 
I hate to sound like a jerk, but you photoshopped a miniusb connection into that picture rather than a microusb connection.

I know, I had no devices with a micro-usb connection. Though I think most get the general idea of the concept.


Quoted as it sums it up really.

Have you ever looked at what's on the other side of your dock connector cable? It's USB. USB (including micro-USB) can do everything the dock connector can do.

Also apple already announced that they will be providing a micro-USB to dock connector adapter starting next year with all their iPhones.

The end(hopefully).
 
Um, yeah. A 30 pin dock connector <> a 5 pin micro USB connector. :rolleyes: I'm looking for the audio out, audio in, and iPod serial paths in the micro USB spec. Oh, wait, they're not there. Apple could pare down the 30 pins as there are a fair number of legacy pins, but not to 5.

I think some of you need to hang out with the HDMI to miniDP folks here. You seem to have the same grasp on cabling and signaling.
 
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