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Apple will no longer license aftermarket power adapters for iPhone 5

appleinsider.com

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Re: Apple will no longer license aftermarket power adapters for iPhone 5

#51

Post by rustynails77 »

joezydeco wrote: post #26
revelation wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that would lead to the accessories being compatible with the new iPhone. Yes, god beware: people could buy accessories at a competetive price and time.

Wow, you haven't shopped for iPhone accessories recently, have you? Aside from cheap cases at the dollar store or Monoprice, everyone is charging the same price for accessories and cables. Walk into any Target or WalMart and marvel at the "competitive" $29 items compared to Apple's $35.

It depends. Will accessory prices come down with the iPhone5? If so, it's an unfair comparison to compare current prices. Also, I can typically buy an iPhone data cable off eBay delivered for about $1 to $2 ... i've never had an issue with a cheap accessory from eBay (and i've bought quite a few). Apple will not want to compete with that sort of price - because it doesn't make sense for any OEM to sell cables at that price. This "lock in" by Apple will almost certainly drive prices up, with little improvement to quality.

Re: Apple will no longer license aftermarket power adapters for iPhone 5

#52

Post by rustynails77 »

forensic wrote: post #43
ameyamk wrote: post #8

I wonder why companies like apple keep so much goodwill at stake with "get every penny from customer" moves. I can understand why BestBuy would do it (They are already dying with high cost low margin items), but apple?

Other companies are just as bad or worse, so consumers have no choice. Apple gets good will because at least the product is good, even though you spend twice as much. Nothing is worse than buying something and being disappointed. People would rather pay twice the price than suffer buyer's remorse. Love it or hate it, the apple products are still the best.

Apple charger - about $26 for an original... About $3 for a knock-off (I just checked eBay). I have never had an unreliable bootleg charger yet.

This is a little more than "double" (it's acutally 8x the price) and I can assure you, there's no noticeable quality difference, other than the shininess of the plastic.

Please do not justify Apple's behaviour because others do it. Would you justify Pinochet because of Stalin? Unless there's a tangible benefit to society, you may want to reconsider your views.

Re: Apple will no longer license aftermarket power adapters for iPhone 5

#53

Post by samstave »

dj2stein9 wrote: post #47
samstave wrote: post #22

This is utter BS. Only because Apple will wind up extorting money from users on these damn things. As it stands I have MANY power adapters for my apple products. I also have many adapters for my laptops: I keep multiple chargers in my backpack, a charger in basically every room of the house and I buy the 3rd party iphone cords from deal extreme that are 7 feet long because the length of an ipad cord is retarded. The…

High margin, incompatible products are really good business. Apple knows it, and that's why they've been developing incompatible plugs, computers, printers, and software since its existence. They thrive on being incompatible with the rest of the computer and technology industry -- this philosophy was hardwired into Apple's DNA by Steve Jobs right from the beginning.

I know, but this does not make it ok.

Re: Apple will no longer license aftermarket power adapters for iPhone 5

#54

Post by martinwiboe »

rustynails77 wrote: post #52
forensic wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other companies are just as bad or worse, so consumers have no choice. Apple gets good will because at least the product is good, even though you spend twice as much. Nothing is worse than buying something and being disappointed. People would rather pay twice the price than suffer buyer's remorse. Love it or hate it, the apple products are still the best.

Apple charger - about $26 for an original... About $3 for a knock-off (I just checked eBay). I have never had an unreliable bootleg charger yet. This is a little more than "double" (it's acutally 8x the price) and I can assure you, there's no noticeable quality difference, other than the shininess of the plastic. Please do not justify Apple's behaviour because others do it. Would you justify Pinochet because of Stali…

Apparently there is a difference in quality: http://www.arcfn.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-q...

Re: Apple will no longer license aftermarket power adapters for iPhone 5

#56

Post by batista »

rustynails77 wrote: post #51
joezydeco wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, you haven't shopped for iPhone accessories recently, have you? Aside from cheap cases at the dollar store or Monoprice, everyone is charging the same price for accessories and cables. Walk into any Target or WalMart and marvel at the "competitive" $29 items compared to Apple's $35.

It depends. Will accessory prices come down with the iPhone5? If so, it's an unfair comparison to compare current prices. Also, I can typically buy an iPhone data cable off eBay delivered for about $1 to $2 ... i've never had an issue with a cheap accessory from eBay (and i've bought quite a few). Apple will not want to compete with that sort of price - because it doesn't make sense for any OEM to sell cables at that…

>It depends. Will accessory prices come down with the iPhone5? If so, it's an unfair comparison to compare current prices.

What kind of logic is this? They didn't go down with the previous 4 models, why even assume they will go down with the 5?

>Also, I can typically buy an iPhone data cable off eBay delivered for about $1 to $2

And you'll continue to be able to buy those. Those are cheap knock-offs, and don't have anything to do with any Apple licensing...

Re: Apple will no longer license aftermarket power adapters for iPhone 5

#57

Post by bruceboughton »

blinkingled wrote: post #19
redial wrote: post #14

According to iLounge, Apple expects to sell $US 100 million by the end of this year. That is no small amount but it's certainly not a large one for them. This makes me think that this move is about embracing the new dock connector, fast. They are gonna force the accessory makers to build the new 9 pin connector into their products instead of building the old 30 pin connector and bundling the adapter. Given that there…

Good for Apple. What about the users though?

The users get a smaller phone. They're not shrinking the dock connector for fun.

Re: Apple will no longer license aftermarket power adapters for iPhone 5

#58

Post by saurik »

ckrailo wrote: post #10
saurik wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An alternative explanation (as they could raise their licensing fees instead, and the costs of managing licensing fees is much lower than constructing and distributing cables; when you look at their profit report these cables are just not a major part of their business) is that they found that third party cables often had minor aberrations that damaged the contacts on the device, leading to increased warranty repair…

I'm not sure I buy this argument. USB cables are everywhere (and ports are everywhere)... like the macbook. Then again, it'd be more costly to remove USB ports from a macbook since nobody would buy such a laptop in the current market. But if that were the real reason for this, wouldn't it be better to switch to a small USB form factor like most phone manufacturers? Also 1% seems really high. If it were destroying pho…

My "thought process" is mostly as stated, with the possibly exception of something I found obvious: that the complex Apple-specific connector is often built by third parties in ways that are kind of sketchy and you can feel it scraping along and not quite fitting into the port correctly with some of the cables you might purchase (the car adapter I used to use had this property, as does the multi-way charger I was using for a while).

Using a small USB form factor, btw, is totally unacceptable from their perspective, because they use the dock connector for more than syncing: they have a ton of extra pins and extra stuff they wire over the dock: it isn't just a USB->USB adapter for purposes of syncing and charging it, it is an accessory port with included UART. HTC probably had the most workable compromise: a mini-USB with a broken-out corner and some extra contacts.

Re: Apple will no longer license aftermarket power adapters for iPhone 5

#59

Post by forensic »

rustynails77 wrote: post #52
forensic wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other companies are just as bad or worse, so consumers have no choice. Apple gets good will because at least the product is good, even though you spend twice as much. Nothing is worse than buying something and being disappointed. People would rather pay twice the price than suffer buyer's remorse. Love it or hate it, the apple products are still the best.

Apple charger - about $26 for an original... About $3 for a knock-off (I just checked eBay). I have never had an unreliable bootleg charger yet. This is a little more than "double" (it's acutally 8x the price) and I can assure you, there's no noticeable quality difference, other than the shininess of the plastic. Please do not justify Apple's behaviour because others do it. Would you justify Pinochet because of Stali…

"Justify"? WTF?

On what moral basis are you condemning Apple? Is this Aristotelian ethics? Medieval European ethics? Kantian deontology?

I'm a modern consequentialist. I don't give a shit about "justification". Apple gets away with it because the power dynamics work out in such a way that they get away with it.

If you want my moral argument, I argue that we should guillotine the super-rich, redistribute their wealth, tap the knowledge and expertise of the social sciences to rehabilitate the Earth, and create a technocratic Star Trek utopia. In that world, Apple will not even care to overcharge for their adapters because capitalism will be at the service of humanity's quality of life rather than vice versa.

Re: Apple will no longer license aftermarket power adapters for iPhone 5

#60

Post by neilux »

The Auto Industry lost a lot of money trying to stop aftermarket products from being sold in the USA. Good luck Apple, it's going to cost you millions to stop the aftermarket business from producing equal and less expensive alternatives. Kevin, Cellphoneguruman
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