Some people are so touchy

Which is exactly why I haven't moved it.
The rant that called for a move has actually been the catalyst for the thread remaining here, in my opinion.
The irony is not lost on me.

Mark

Well considering that I also agreed with the comment that Apple should use the microusb connector as agreed and am critical of them at times, plus am not known to disparage other operating systems hardly make me a Apple gayboy.

OMG 4pp1e 1s 5ooo 5hi7!!!

Ignoring the tat above, back to the subject at hand.

I was wondering where Apple would put the micro USB (BTW, is this the micro USB port you find on most cameras, or the OTHER form of little USB port I found on my Leica - there seem to be two small USB connectors now). Next to the Dock? I can imagine Stave and Jony Ive not being too happy with this. It would break the line.

But then there’s this:
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MC531?mco=MTc0MjU1ODY
It’s the iPad camera connector kit. Two Dock > USB / SD card readers. I bet this unit would be used to “translate” USB to Dock if need me. The iPad USB connector is quite telling - it can do more than just connect cameras. It will also work with keyboards, and if this is the case, it may well work with other USB devices. If Apple do put out an iPhone dock charger, the potential is there for more than just power charging to go on. However, such a device would remove the exclusivity of the Dock connector (which probably does a lot more than USB would allow).

It is interesting that they have omitted the micro USB port, but on a personal level, with my day to day use of my phone (and iPad), I don’t miss a second charger. I would much rather that if there was a standard, that it was standard across ANYTHING which requires a rechargeable battery. When I go on holiday, I have to take the charger for each camera I take, as well as the laptop and phone. If the EU is going to get snippy about chargers, it should cover everything, not just products in one market.

In some respects I will agree with you. I would like to tether an iPhone to an iPad or laptop. But will Steve jobs allow that? No. So yes in some aspects it is [LIFTED]

Corrected for accuracy. the iPhone has supported tethering for a while. O2 have allowed it (but not on PAYG), but in the USA, AT&T (the only iPhone carrier) haven’t allowed it for a long time, irking iPhone users. The iPad doesn’t support tethering at the moment - which I guess is at the behest of the telephone companies who have got dataplans just for that class of device.

It’s easy, and no doubt lazy, to blame Apple, but at times the fault lies outside of 1, Infinte Loop. In this case, it’s the phone carriers who are being backward. They have agreed to certain business plans - which are on the face of it very good (and no doubt took a lot of pushing from Apple and others to get going), but there will be compromises along the way.

My strategy when I take my iPad out on holiday is to get a MiFi widget. I can connect my iPad AND any other WiFi device to it. No need for tethering then (or the £10 a month O2 data bolt on for my PAYG iPhone).

ASA yes, the OFT wouldn't give a damn about that. They're more if Apple had been selling things that didn't actually work. And in any case there's a world of difference between stepping over the line that ad writers are required to walk and something that would end up with an EU wide effectively criminal investigation. Like, you know, the ones that have happened to Microsoft and Google.

I'm not sure about the microUSB thing anyway. I'm sure we've had this discussion before and nobody ever found a definitive answer as to whether the microUSB socket has to be on the device itself or if it's sufficient to provide some sort of adapter. Not that Apple are currently doing either, of course.

In the end, I'm not sure what leverage the EU has in this regard though. I don't think it's within their capability in this case to force the removal from sale of things which don't contain microUSB sockets, the best they can do is maybe slap Apple with a massive fine. Or possibly require them to give away adapters with their products and to anyone who goes into an Apple shop and asks for one. Given Apple allegedly have over $40 billion in the bank, I'm not sure how much of a threat a fine actually is.

In any case, since I've seen two windows mobile phones come though my hands for connection to our Exchange systems in the last week from the same mobile company (HTC) that not only did not have MicroUSB adapters but they actually had different, incompatible adapters from each other, I find it a little hard to believe that right now singling out Apple would actually get the EU very far. Once everybody else is using microUSB they might stand a chance but right now? Apple can just stand up and say 'nobody else is being forced to, why should we be?'

Jon

There's nowt as funny as folk.

Which phones were those? All the new devices this year (and some from last year) seem to have them

They can stand up and say it.... didn't work over the IE situation considering every other OS ships with it's own browser




John Ive went to my uni, he should be used to doing things the wrong way

Some of the HTC products put the connection on the top of the device, which would be an option given the headphone placement
http://techielobang.com/blog/2009/11/20 ... eo-within/

Back to the OP for a moment.

The reason many Apple enthusiasts will find this story amusing is because of the now infamous comment by Michael Dell in 1997




Now at the time it might have been a "smart" thing to say. However history has proven him wrong and we all like to see the big boys fall on their face from time to time.

At the time it was also probably the right thing to do as well, given the knowledge he probably had to hand.
Perfect 20/20 hindsight is a great skill to have.


Thats a big ouch, a decision in hindsight was one hell of a mistake.

HTC Touch Pro 2 and a HTC HD2. Completely different 'USB' sockets on the bottom, at least one of which looked entirely proprietary to me due to having a very odd shape. Both bought in the last few weeks from vodafone business.


I don't think the situation is entirely analogous. The presence of IE bundled in with every PC was effectively killing competition in the PC browser market. The fact Apple use a dock connector rather than a microUSB socket patently isn't killing competition in the mobile phone market as a whole. It could possibly be argued that it's anti-competitive in so far as peripheral makers have to make more than one device but there's no shortage of peripherals for iphones and no shortage of peripherals for other brands of mobile phones. I think having a standard connector is a very good idea, I just think it's a stretch to be able to argue on a legal basis that having more than one is somehow significantly harmful.

That is weird, I know the HD1 had a mini USB, I think they are a proprietary shape for the video output to TV but I think the mini USB work with them

Apparently the HD2 is Micro USB

Touch Pro 2 is ExtUSB which supports mini USB
HTC manufactures Windows Mobile and Android-based Communicators which have a proprietary connector called HTC ExtUSB (Ext[ended] USB) which is present on the Touch Pro2. ExtUSB combines mini-USB (with which it is backwards-compatible) with audio/video input and output in an 11-pin connector.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Touch_Pro2

Touch Pro 2 was unveiled early 2009 which would explain why it's not micro USB

Fair play to them.

They've marketed and rejuvenated their way to the top as MS and Dell have not marketed and stagnated their way down the ladder.

I may not want any of their products at the moment but, leaving aside brand-theology, they've done very well indeed.