What's up dock? Apple to shrink connector for iPhone 5
(Reuters) - Apple Inc's new iPhone will drop the wide dock connector used in the company's gadgets for the best part of a decade in favor of a smaller one, a change likely to annoy the Apple faithful but which could be a boon for accessory makers.
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple had kept the 30-pin dock connector even on the smaller sixth-generation iPod nano in 2010, preserving compatibility across its device line. A June report had already identified a 19-pin mini connector for the forthcoming iPhone; this report makes the break with the established accessory interface consequential for the iPhone ecosystem.
First-order effects
- iPhone 5 buyers and owners of existing Apple docks and cable-based accessories face a compatibility break as Apple moves away from the long-standing wide connector.
- Accessory makers must redesign connector-dependent products for the smaller port, while gaining a new set of products to sell to iPhone customers.
Second-order effects
- The value of the installed base of 30-pin accessories shifts toward replacement products, putting manufacturers’ speed in producing compatible designs at the center of competition.
- Apple’s interface choice makes the iPhone launch a reset point for dock, cable and peripheral inventories rather than a simple continuation of the existing accessory range.
Third-order effects
- If Apple continues using connector changes to shrink devices, proprietary physical interfaces become a recurring way to refresh the accessory market while imposing upgrade costs on users.
- The episode points to mobile hardware ecosystems competing not only through handsets but through control of the physical standard that peripheral makers must support.
The trend: Smartphone makers are using thinner hardware designs to reset accessory interfaces, trading backward compatibility for a new peripheral cycle.