Why Apple iPad is not considering USB port

Probably not. Printers are moving to wifi connections for printing. Storage can be done in the cloud. There's less and less of a reason to "tether" an iPad to another peripheral with USB.

It has a USB port. 30-pin. For heaven's sake.

It will never have any form of USB 3 port. They'll move to Thunderbolt instead.

Yes and no. Electronically, the 30-pin connector includes USB, but functionally it supports only power, iTunes, and the very narrow range of devices that work with the connection kit. This was done quite deliberately, IMO -- and not to keep the device "closed" as many seem to think. Pretty clearly Apple wanted everything that did connect to the iPad through this port to work properly and not to be reliant on third-party drivers. Where Thunderbolt fits into this scheme I am not sure, but I believe a general-purpose port of any kind for the iPad continues to be unlikely for the same reasons.

However I don't think it will happen.

Why? Well mainly because of the issue with drivers. To much hardware out there requires a driver to operate even if it is a fairly generic device. Often this is the result of poor development and the device not meeting the class spec Sometimes though it is a deliberate attempt to create dependencies.

While I agree it is a big disappointment I don't see it being corrected anytime soon.

USB 3 sucks! Even if it didn't all of my needs currently can be handled by USB 2. In any event I suspect that a lot of people simply don't realize how useful such a port could be for developers. There is a tremendous amount of hardware out there that can only communicate with hardwired USB or an RS232 dongle. Frankly I'm not sure Apple realizes the nature of the importance here. In any event such a port could make for a tremendously more useful iPad in industry.

No matter how you look at it the devices are closed. The thirty pin connector is not open in any sense and frankly this is a big disappointment. It result in things like a RS232 adapter being excessively expensive when such adapters are a dime a dozen.

This might be true but the platform is still closed. In any event I don't think the problem is third party drivers per say. Rather it is the risk of having a mechanism in place to install those drivers.

Yep! I keep hearing about TB in conjunction with all sorts of devices that can just as well be handled by USB. Vendors aren't likely to switch to TB on many devices because it doesn't make sense economically and their is no compelling technical reason. That doesn't mean TB won't come to iPad, rather it means we won't have any more access to it than the current USB port.

At least not until Apple introduces a secure method of driver installation. I could see iOS easily evolving in the direction of more flexibility here but I'm not sure Apple is on board. Still the idea of a post PC era implies working with the past. It would be fantastic if every device out there had it's own IP address but that isn't happening anytime soon. I suspect that Apple has to have realized by now that the lack of a USB port does limit potential uses for iPad.

The ports are next to free.


Intel's including it on all of their boards and excluding USB 3. They don't need a compelling technical reason; it's being provided whether they like it or not.

...that would certainly explain why they can barely keep up with the demand! Apparently it's nearly useless without a USB port.

I was looking at this from the stand point of accessory or peripheral items. The ports aren't free in fact every transistor impacts cost significantly. The point is people will not be seeing TB ports in low end devices like they do now with USB. Nothing about the port was designed to compete with that market segment where USB rules, which is low cost devices that plug into your computers.

Look at it this way I can select from hundreds of micro controllers to implement product "xyz" at very low cost. Finding similar hardware with PCI-Express ports or even TB built in is impossible. We are talking about devices where 50 cents in the price of the micro controller makes a big difference.

As to high end devices like RAID boxes and high speed audio video equipment, USB doesn't really compete well there either. When these devices do hit the market I would not be surprised to see a price premium due to the requirements for an upscale processor and the TB chip.

All of these concerns will obviously go away in the future when you can buy $5 micro controllers with TB ports built in. The problem there is I don't see a rapid move to supporting TB in the marketplace. In fact at the moment it appears as though Apple and Intel are keeping TB to themselves. Now maybe they have partners working behind the scenes to secure suitable silicon to drive the TB peripheral market, but honestly I would expect more by now.

They aren't excluding USB3 any more than anybody else. USB3 will be supported on Intel motherboards when it is in the system chipsets and not before. Intel can't ignore USB3 totally, it will fill a significant niche. They may not like it but in the end they will loose market share to AMD which will soon have USB3 in its chipsets. But again you miss the point, Intel can include TB where ever they want, the designers of peripherals need hardware to leverage to build the components to use with that TB port. In the end it is like Firewire, if you can not build low cost hardware, easily other ports will win out.

Think about what I've said m good man. I never said iPad was useless, I have one myself that gets more than a bit of use. What I've said, and it is hard to dispute, is that the lack of a USB port puts significant limitations on what you can do with an iPad.

This is frustrating because the iPad would be ideal for some uses in industry if you could have access to a standard USB port and the ability to load drivers as required. USB hardware is dirt cheap compared to anything that plugs into the dock connector not to mention some of this hardware will never be configured for the dock connector in the first place.

Examples abound but if you have worked in industry you should be able to see some of these as valid uses:

1. USB to RS32 dongles. RS232 is widely used in industry automation and won't go away anytime soon. This gives one the ability ot walk up to a divice on the plant floor and connect much as you would with a laptop but without the hassle. With out such support people will not even obther to write the software that iPad would need to communicate with these devices,
2. USB to Ethernet. Again in industry it is not uncommon at all to have work cells running on isolated networks, support for such dongles would allow you to tap right in. Such a dongle would come in handy when every you are out and about and have nothing but a wired network to connect to.
3. USB would give one access to DVM and Osciloscopes. Actually many bits of instrumentation. An iPad and such hardware could be very advantageous when working in the field.
4. USB to engine management ports. Here is a really good place for an iPad, that is connecting up to your engine management port on your car, truck or whatever.

These are just a few ideas. In any event it isn't about iPad being useless, which was a stupid comment to make, it is about expanding its ability to be used in new ways. Ways in which the iPad is actually the ideal platform due to the tablet form factor.

what you said:



I think they realize EXACTLY the "importance" of a USB port.
Portable = Wireless. If they have to force people to move on from legacy connections, well... this won't be the first time.

Why?

Because Apple wont have control over the App store and thus revenue source.

Simple.

It certainly is simple to make up absolute nonsense that doesn't have anything to do with the question at all.

The problem with the open vs. closed debates is they are not based on even remotely consistent definitions of the terms. The trick is using the definition that conforms to your argument. The connector can be easily adapted to USB, but that gets you absolutely nowhere since iOS doesn't provide general USB support.

I can connect my digital piano to Garage Band through the iPad's USB port for use as a controller.

yes and no
large enter prise concerns wanted the ipad closed off from outside threats and stuff. .
also Apple wants each device to be defined without too much cross over so a crippled ipads at the start is what happened

the ipad will have a mini usb soon enough

9

Never is soon enough for you? Strange definition of soon enough.

HEY! Did you ever see anybody plugging in cables on Star Trek? No? Me neither so get with the future already!

I also saw lots of people on Star Trek talking to their computers. We don't do that today! Why, because it makes you look goofy; about as useful as the idiots talking 24/7 on their Bluetooth headsets.

In any event it isn't about the future, it is about connectivity to the past. I do have to wonder about this obsession with cables, it isn't like this is a normal mode of operation. Rather you plug in, do whatever you have to do and then go on to the next issue of the day.

It get the distinct impression that people in this forum have never used a laptop for anything more than E-Mail access an a few spreadsheets.

Dave