Unauthorized Lightning Accessories Continue Rolling Out with New Docks

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.

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.

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

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Analog Kid

85 months ago

The decision to withhold Lightning wasn't a Forstall decision, was it? Why wasn't the exec responsible for this made to walk the plank with the rest?

This is a much bigger mistake than Maps, in my opinion.

Rating: 11 Votes

mooeymoose

85 months ago

Perfect. This this the kind of stuff the market needs to hell keep apple in check. While I like a lot of apple products what they charge for accessories is too much.

Rating: 8 Votes

MOKHAN

85 months ago

I'm perfectly okay with this. To be honest, I never purchased OEM 30pin sync cables from Apple anyways, I would get the inexpensive third party look-alikes from eBay.

Rating: 5 Votes

Westside guy

85 months ago

I'm glad these have come out so quickly. As long as I've looked at a product's review history, I've never had any problem with any of the cheap knock-off versions of Apple connectors before - so I don't expect problems with these either.

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).

Rating: 4 Votes

TheMacBookPro

85 months ago

Those docks really ought to add a 3.5mm plug for additional stability. I don't imagine that tiny Lightning connector is anywhere near as stable as the 30-pin.

Rating: 3 Votes

oneMadRssn

85 months ago

And the miscreants who support the pirates deserve to have their devices bricked permanently.

And meanwhile, Apple stock sets new records. If it wasn't for Apple, this country would be in a recession. Do the Fandroid idiots and pirates ever think?

Yes, I do think. I think that I own the hardware I buy, and I can do whatever I like with it. This applies to ALL hardware. Sears can't tell me what kind of nails I can hammer with a Craftsman hammer, Ford can't tell me what type of gas to buy, and neither should Apple tell me what kind of plug I can stick into my phone.

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.

Apple made the Lightning specs available on the MFi portal immediately after the iPhone 5 announcement.

I'd been checking daily for weeks prior, and they were there as soon as the announcement was over.

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.

Rating: 3 Votes

oneMadRssn

85 months ago

Why don't Apple provide a standard dock like they always have.

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?

Rating: 3 Votes

ghsNick

85 months ago

But are they safe?

Rating: 2 Votes

Reason077

85 months ago

I'm perfectly okay with this. To be honest, I never purchased OEM 30pin sync cables from Apple anyways, I would get the inexpensive third party look-alikes from eBay.

The quality of the unlicensed 3rd-party 30-pin cables you get on eBay is, in my experience, very poor. They tend to be quite sensitive (lose the connection on movement, don't work well with dirty/damaged sync ports on devices, etc), and the connectors sometimes fall apart after a few weeks/months of use.

Sure, they're very cheap, and you can buy like 10 or 20 for the price of one genuine cable. But having to replace unreliable cables regularly is pretty annoying.

I just hope that if 3rd parties are making lightning connectors, they ramp up the quality level a lot.

Rating: 2 Votes