Lightning to 30-pin Adapter, EarPods cost $29 each from Apple

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  • Reply 21 of 40
    richlrichl Posts: 2,213member


    I wish that the adaptor was shorter. The length is going to cause problems with a lot of docks.

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  • Reply 22 of 40
    Marvinmarvin Posts: 15,585moderator
    If the compact adapter isn't a good fit for your accessories

    Someone's going to have to point out this compact adaptor because the one I'm looking at is anything but. I can understand why the TB plug is so large as it has a micro-chip in it but this one seems unreasonably large and 'Lightning' is an odd name for it. I get that it goes with Thunderbolt (Thunderbolt and Lightning) but it's not clear why it's designed the way it is.
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  • Reply 23 of 40
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,657member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by florianvk View Post


    well, thinking that the old 30-pin was all-analog and this is now all-digital, and the thing is big, there is probably as much cpu power in this adapter as there was in a first-gen ipod. :-)


     


    don't think apple tries to make money on this thing, as it's really a stop gap that they need as they had to change the connector design, finally; and looking at all the built-in car connectivity found in many vehicles, they had to find a way for a smooth migration.


     


    it's probably a cost-based pricing, honestly.


     


    Florian.



    Are you kidding me?    Monoprice and others are able to make all kinds of adapters that are well designed for as little as $3.   They make a 30pin to USB that looks to me as every bit as good as Apple's version for $3.50.   It's white, it has the same curves, the same gauge wire and it has the same strain relief bits.   IMO, this is a ripoff.    Apple can get away with it because they haven't licensed anyone to make such an adapter and they've probably patented every little thing about it rather than attempting to make it a standard.       I wouldn't be surprised if this thing has a $27 gross margin.   To me this is like when auto dealers try to charge you $350 for floor mats or $2000 for a $200 radio.   


     


    How can the adapter cost as much to make as the EarPods?    $29 for the Ear Pods is probably a pretty good deal.   


     


    Instead of ripping people off, they should be kissing the butt of people who are stupidly willing to upgrade their phones every year and letting anyone who upgrades buy 2-3 adapters at a low price.    If people upgraded their phones at, let's say a four or five year cycle, Apple would not be the powerhouse that it is and the stock price would be at least 30% lower.   I thought the adapter was going to come in at about $12, which I still would have considered a bit of a ripoff.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised because all Apple cables are ripoffs - it's like buying cables from Monster Cable or one of the "esoteric" audio cable manufacturers.  


     


    Whatever happened to the EU imperative to make all phone power supplies interchangeable?    Apple was supposedly a supporter of that initiative.    


     


    The only thing in Apple's favor on this is that with iCloud, the cables are less necessary for synching.   But for charging, I like to keep one cable at home, one in the car and one in my bag for use in the office.    Especially since if you actually use the iPhone as a phone, it's not going to last the whole day.   

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  • Reply 24 of 40
    Just go Lightning whole hog. No need for adapters. Sell off all those incompatible accessories.
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  • Reply 25 of 40
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member
    Whether or not $29 is the cost, it is crazy expensive. The Schiller rationale that the 30 pin connector is too thick is ridiculous: The Android phones are not exactly fat (Lumias are another matter), and use microUSB, so apple could too.
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  • Reply 26 of 40
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member



    #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
    Including my car?


     
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  • Reply 27 of 40
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member

    #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }

    Thundberbolt does 10GB/s. I am guessing this is a little slower, so this is a ripoff, pure and simple.


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  • Reply 28 of 40


    Originally Posted by igriv View Post

    Thundberbolt does 10GB/s. I am guessing this is a little slower, so this is a ripoff, pure and simple.


     


    Mind explaining how, because what you've said is nonsense.

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  • Reply 29 of 40
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member


    OK, I will spell it out: Thunderbolt is VERY VERY VERY fast (and needs to be, in part because it is essentially a SCSI replacement, which means you can daisychain a lot of devices on a TB port) and therefore requires a fancy controller, a part of which apple (or intel, who designed the Thunderbolt interface) decided to put in the cable. The so-called lightning is, I am assuming, at best USB 3 speed (I am assuming this because making the transfer speed any faster is completely useless for the purpose this thing is designed for -- I could be wrong), so you don't need a fancy controller to process signal at that speed, and another poster's guess of $0.17 for the chip is probably on the high side. Granted that you have to include a pretty plastic dongle and a nicely designed Apple box, $3 is about the cost of distributing this thing, everything else is margin.


     
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  • Reply 30 of 40
    swssws Posts: 44member
    igriv wrote: »
    Thundberbolt does 10GB/s. I am guessing this is a little slower, so this is a ripoff, pure and simple.
     

    No.
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  • Reply 31 of 40
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member

    #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }

    I agree with everything you say, but Monoprice does NOT yet make a thunderbolt cable -- in fact Apple is the only source I know of (please correct me if I am wrong!) So, I fear we will have to live with $29 apple proprietary Lightning to 30 pin converter for a while.


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  • Reply 32 of 40
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member



    #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
    Would you care to elaborate?


     
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  • Reply 33 of 40


    Lightning is, as far as we can tell, USB 2. It's Apple's prerogative to make cables use whatever technology they choose. If it's more expensive for third parties to make their own, too bad. It's a reversible port with eight pins jamming in a great deal of functionality. It's going to cost a little more, I imagine. 

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  • Reply 34 of 40
    I bought a pair of EarPods. Not sure why since I have Apple's more expensive in-ear headphones. I'll report back my findings.
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  • Reply 35 of 40
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member


    I'll get my lighting cables the same way I got most of my 30pin cables.  Buying iPods, iPads and iPhones.  


     


    It'll be a little annoying this year not to have spare cables.


     


    By 2015 I'll have more than I know what to do with.

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  • Reply 36 of 40
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Lightning is, as far as we can tell, USB 2. It's Apple's prerogative to make cables use whatever technology they choose. If it's more expensive for third parties to make their own, too bad. It's a reversible port with eight pins jamming in a great deal of functionality. It's going to cost a little more, I imagine. 



     

    #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }

    I am not saying that Apple has no right to sell these things, simply that doing so is gouging. I will probably buy several of these adaptors, but I will not be happy doing it, since I know when I am being ripped off. By the way, there is a view that these are USB 3.0. If so, these are much faster and there is some excuse.


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  • Reply 37 of 40


    Originally Posted by igriv View Post

    I will probably buy several of these adaptors, but I will not be happy doing it, since I know when I am being ripped off.


     


    Then there's absolutely no point in your complaining about it, because you're not doing anything meaningful to protest it or get the prices changed at all. Vote with your wallet! They're three times more than I thought they'd be, too… But it's probably the hardware doing active switching like Thunderbolt cables.






    By the way, there is a view that these are USB 3.0. If so, these are much faster and there is some excuse.



     


    The view is wrong. The cables specifically say USB 2. That doesn't preclude future parts being Thunderbolt or USB 3, certainly not. Indeed, they're making Lightning to HDMI and VGA (SCREW YOU VGA. DIE IN A FIRE) adapters in the coming months. But no accessory now moves faster than USB 2.

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  • Reply 38 of 40


    Here's a little perspective about Lightning. Pass it on to any trolls you see.


     



     


    And since Huddler refuses to show a simple image at full size, click for larger.

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  • Reply 39 of 40
    I guess people all forget how expensive th 30 pin connectors were when Apple first released them, and how people were caterwauling that Apple was trying to gouge with another proprietary connector.

    Startup tooling is expensive and high prices are to be expected when a new connector is released. However, with the huge rollout, i have no doubt some intrepid Asian company will tool up and start cranking out 3rd party cables in short order.

    Personally, I am willing to put up with some short term inconvenience to move ahead to a more modern connector that is smaller, reversible, detachable (so my expensive electronic device doesn'tt get launched when someone trips over an AC cable, and ha (expected) extensibility.
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  • Reply 40 of 40


    With those generic products, you get what you pay for. A low quality knock off that does what the Apple product does for a short while, until you get fed up and spend the money you should have at Apple to begin with. They're all garbage.

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