Live data from Hacker News

EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

appleinsider.com

41–50 of 525 posts

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#41

I'll miss lightning when it's gone if only because it was the most satisfying and secure feeling cable connection I've ever used. USB-C has some slack built into it by design but it just makes it feel lower quality.

The USB-C ports wear out badly after a couple years of use and are loose. Lightning, as you are saying, still feels good after years of daily use. The duty cycle is higher for lightning and should be used for things which are often disconnected and reconnected like mobile devices.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#42

The iPad Pro uses a usb c charger, as does the MacBook line; stifles innovation my ass.

As far as I remember, this piece of legislation has been floating around since USB mini. We have now gone through 2 revisions to a connector that is now reversible and can carry video. Locking onto USB-C now could be a very "640k ought to be enough for everybody" moment. And if Apple was going to switch to USB C anyways, whats the point of this legislation?

Apple isn't going to change to USB-C anytime soon for iPhones because they make a significant amount of money with the MFI program (~$4/connector), the vast majority of which comes from lightning accessories.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#43

Let’s say this rule was in place 10 years ago and we standardised on micro USB. How would it have been possible to advance to the next generation of technology like USB-C. This feels that it’s banking on USB-C being forever future proofed or wireless connections does everything we ever need.

An IETF-style process to swap to a new standard, presumably.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#44
iPhone’s not using USB-C is kind of a pain and I’m still not sure I love government intervention in this area. Lightning is weird in that it works quite well but as everything else has moved to USB-C it’s become more of a weird outlier. Definitely a mixed bag overall.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#45

The iPad Pro uses a usb c charger, as does the MacBook line; stifles innovation my ass.

As far as I remember, this piece of legislation has been floating around since USB mini. We have now gone through 2 revisions to a connector that is now reversible and can carry video. Locking onto USB-C now could be a very "640k ought to be enough for everybody" moment. And if Apple was going to switch to USB C anyways, whats the point of this legislation?

Well legislations are not written in stone. If there is a reasonable need for upgraded standard in future legislation can be updated.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#47
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I remember, this piece of legislation has been floating around since USB mini. We have now gone through 2 revisions to a connector that is now reversible and can carry video. Locking onto USB-C now could be a very "640k ought to be enough for everybody" moment. And if Apple was going to switch to USB C anyways, whats the point of this legislation?

> Locking onto USB-C now could be a very "640k ought to be enough for everybody" moment. I agree in general; but at some point don't we hit diminishing returns? If I were to say, "18.4 exabytes of RAM ought to be enough for everybody", that'd be basically correct, even future-proofing for the craziest sci-fi holodeck use cases we can imagine, right?

How do you know? Have you seen the future?

As much as I am for interoperability, a legislation directing a specific technology is one way how we end up with ridiculous standards.

Remember, we still have laws on where we can or cannot tie a horse in town on the books a century after they were irrelevant. Laws move in centuries, while technology moves in years. They are not compliant with each other.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#49
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I know what is best for you and me, so I'll force you to make the chargers I want" I don't think Apple are the biggest assholes in this situation.

So, to be clear, your position is that the very concept of regulation is illegitimate? "I know what is best for you, so I'll force you to make the car safety features I want".

It may be legitimate when the regulated action causes direct physical harm to someone else. For example: I think it's reasonable to regulate particulate emissions.

It's not legitimate to regulate manufacture or commercialization of products when that manufacture or commercialization poses no direct threat to the physical well-being of other individuals.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#50

The joint motion points to adopting Directive 2014/53/EU which requires common _chargers_ but says nothing about the port that the phone uses. As far as I can tell this is only for the back half of the charger / brick that connects to the wall. Yet the Apple statement, and most of the articles about this (including the linked one), are talking about the phone's connector and talks about lightning and usb-c. Most of t…

Apple is already using USB-C on the bit that plugs into the wall, so if that's all this is, it's nothing.

Apple has protested this, so it seems like it must be more.

Post reply on HN