What's new

New 9 pin docking cable

scifan57

Administrator
Staff member
Has anyone noticed that the new 9 pin docking cable for the iPhone 5 and presumably future I devices contains a chip which can detect the use of unauthorized accessories.
 
Last edited:
It's not an unexpected move. The lightning connector is all digital and Apple are obliged to put protection into the data flow chain to at least hinder the possibilities of things like third party adapters being put in between the device and cable and streaming off high quality video, audio, etc. Of course it also allows them much greater control of the peripheral supply chain, but hey, it's Apple! You shouldn't be surprised as nothings really changed... they've been doing that for years! :D
 
It's not an unexpected move. The lightning connector is all digital and Apple are obliged to put protection into the data flow chain to at least hinder the possibilities of things like third party adapters being put in between the device and cable and streaming off high quality video, audio, etc. Of course it also allows them much greater control of the peripheral supply chain, but hey, it's Apple! You shouldn't be surprised as nothings really changed... they've been doing that for years! :D



Not so much surprising. More like putting a frog into a pot of water and gradually turning up the heat. At some point, some froggies might think the water too hot and want out, lol.
 
Not so much surprising. More like putting a frog into a pot of water and gradually turning up the heat. At some point, some froggies might think the water too hot and want out, lol.

At least they can hop out. What happened to the poor fishy? :D

But yes, I think I agree with your revised analogy... ;)
 
At least they can hop out. What happened to the poor fishy? :D

But yes, I think I agree with your revised analogy... ;)

I was thinking of another kettle of fish, lol.

I'm platform agnostic and hop around, but easier to do if a froggie than a fishie.
 
col.bris said:
Interesting discussion I wonder what happens when you have an adapter

An official adaptor from Apple would likely have the chip and work without problems.
 
An official adaptor from Apple would likely have the chip and work without problems.

And an unofficial one will likely pop up the standard IOS message on screen which says "The attached accessory is not supported by this device" :D
 
And an unofficial one will likely pop up the standard IOS message on screen which says "The attached accessory is not supported by this device" :D

And then hopefully work anyway...:cool:

I have faith in chinese ingenuity - they'll likely find a way around it...
 
And then hopefully work anyway...:cool:

I have faith in chinese ingenuity - they'll likely find a way around it...

Indeed. Jailbreaking easily gets round the problem in the current analogue cable / accessory domain, bit it would be surprising to me if the new digital domain can be easily overcome given the encryption likely being employed ;)
 
It'd be nice if someone could figure out workarounds. What a shame, though, for users to have to go through the hit-and-miss of trying to find a workaround.

Myself, I'm the type who'll just buy the Apple stuff, to avoid the time and trouble. But it's small, incremental stuff like this that raises the water temp a bit for me as an iOS user, and makes me willing to consider more gadgets on other platforms. The shame of it is, I'd rather stick with one platform, but none offers everything I want, so I hop around.

While reading up on the new Kindle Fire HD and ordering a 9" one, I read about another manufacturer annoyance, this one by Amazon: They're selling (at least that model) without a wall wart and are making people pay 10 or 20 bucks for one. If you don't, then all you get is a cable that sounds like you end up trickle charging. Totally chintzy.
 
Indeed. Jailbreaking easily gets round the problem in the current analogue cable / accessory domain, bit it would be surprising to me if the new digital domain can be easily overcome given the encryption likely being employed ;)

I'm guessing they can reverse engineer by examination of the 30 to 9 pin adapter Apple showed yesterday. Additionally, if they can map the chip in the 9 pin, they will hopefully be able to work something out.

Of course, Apple *might* just release the info to help users...(tongue firmly in cheek) :D
 

Most reactions

Latest posts

Back
Top