“Apple is testing the patience of its fans,” said Tero Kuittinen, an independent analyst and a vice president of Alekstra, a company that helps customers manage cellphone costs.
Apple's dock connector has been around for over 10 years. To change it now is not "testing the patience" of their fans. It's making a choice to get rid of a bigger connection for a smaller one - which in turn allows Apple to design a better phone - and eventually iPad.
CNNMoney is also wrong with their assertion that Apple's $30 Lightning adapter won't work with old speakers (Link via @danfrakes). Just have to ask Apple:
https://twitter.com/danfrakes/statuses/246359997137682432
Read all about the Lightning connector at Macworld's article "What Apple's new Lightning connector means for you".
Apple's Greed
Yes, Apple will make money by selling new adapters. Apple has made money on a variety of adapters over the years, as do most tech companies. Apple often 1 attempts to make money from the products it sells.
But if you think that Apple is going to hang on to a 30 pin adapter because other companies profited heavily from selling devices based on that adapter, then you clearly haven't been following along with Apple's story long enough.
A list of a few other things Apple has changed because they felt it was best for their customers in the long run:
- Ditching the floppy drive while "everyone" was still using it.
- Moving to USB when hardly anyone had any USB devices.
- Getting rid of DVD/CD drives in most of their portables.
- Doing away with boxed software and selling direct to customers via the Mac App Store.
- Music industry, movie industry, etc.
The cynic says Apple does it to make money. And that's partially true. The irrational Apple fan says it's just part of the experience of owning a Mac.
The truth is somewhere in between.
- Always ↩