Over the past few weeks, we've been covering a few of the recent unofficial Lightning accessories that have been surfacing into the void left by Apple's decision to wait until early November to begin bringing most of its official accessory partners up to speed on the new connector for the iPhone 5, iPad, and iPad mini.
iPhone5mod seems to be one of the fastest-moving companies releasing Lightning accessories without Apple's authorization, having released several cables and working on docks and adapters using the new standard. The company today announced two new Lightning docks for the iPhone 5 that will begin shipping within the next few weeks.
The first is an upgraded Classic Dock that is similar to the one announced last week but which adds a second mounting slot to allow users to prop up their devices in either portrait or landscape mode without being mounted on the charging connector.
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The second is a new iPhone 5 Dock PRO that will be available in both Lightning and micro-USB versions, allowing users to choose which type of cable they wish to run from their computer or power adapter to the dock. The dock also includes a removable slot cover to offer two different sizes of docking slots to accommodate both naked and cased iPhones.
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iPhone5mod has also already announced improved versions of its standard and lighted Lightning to USB cables, increasing durability and compatibility.
The company also tells us that it is working on several other new docks, including a standalone one for the iPad mini and a universal one for the iPhone and iPad mini, as well as Lightning card readers for the iPhone 5 and iPad mini.
Certainly some users have concerns over purchasing unauthorized accessories, and iPhone5mod's rapid iteration on the already-released cables to improve durability may be a bit disconcerting, but it seems clear that Apple's decision to keep official accessory manufacturers in the dark until well after the launch of Lightning-based products has left a significant market opportunity for companies looking to meet demand from users.
Top Rated Comments
This is a much bigger mistake than Maps, in my opinion.
This way I can have spare cables at various locations - e.g. car, office, in various bags - without having to take out a third mortgage (the second mortgage was needed for the original hardware purchase :D).
They can void my warrantee, that's fine. Having a good warrantee incentivizes complying with the company policies during the period of the warrantee (and who doesn't love a good incentive). However, you suggest that they should intentionally destroy hardware I own for non-compliance. To say this is absurd and immoral is an understatement. It's flat out disgusting. I own it, end of story. Apple got my money when I bought it, and it's up to me what I do with it afterwards. If they don't feel they got enough the first time, they should charge more the first time. I will not ever feel bad for tampering with my property, and it's fools like you who should do a little bit more thinking.
http://www.theartgalleryofknoxville.com/podcast/powr.broccoli-kopimi.pdf (http://www.theartgalleryofknoxville.com/podcast/powr.broccoli-kopimi.pdf)
See point 007.
Can anyone else confirm this? If so, it's the first I've heard of it. As far as I know, there is no --official-- pin-out of the lightning cable, nor the chip controlling it, nor the spec of the controller chip.
Apple claims people prefer speaker docks and making standard docks is not worthwhile for them, or something like that.
The real question is: why hasn't apple released a detailed spec allowing legit 3rd party docks (both of the speaker variety and standard chargers) to come to market the day the iphone5 was announced?