Back on September 12th, 2012, Apple announced the new iPhone 5, but within that announcement came another important piece of news. Apple had a replacement for the well known and very widely adopted iPod connector. The new lightning connector is a nifty one which not only looks sturdy but it can be slid into an device without care as it no longer matters which side is up. Shortly after the release of iPhone 5, Apple even released the iPad Mini and a replacement to the New iPad with the connector. So the accessories are pretty important to millions of Apple consumers.
This new connector led to an entire ecosystem of peripherals becoming obsolete overnight. Car Kits, Speaker Docks, Battery Cases, Power Cables and so much more just are not compatible with the new connector. Apple had introduced an adapter, but for many devices that would sit in a dock, users simply are left with the best option of just upgrading everything they have.
Three months later as December draws on, the flow of Lightning products is startlingly slow, just a few products have been released, mainly a few docks from insider companies, lets examine some and when they were released:
- Griffin Cables, including an extra long one or coiled opotions, (limited Availability in December, 3 Meter Cable not Available yet)
- Bose Sound Dock, announced Dec 8th, shipping about 2 weeks later
- JBL announced some docks around Nov 15th and shipped some shortly after
But where are the Mophie Battery Cases and other official peripherals which are 
clutch to the power users? sadly they are non-existent. Apple did not work with companies which provide battery cases. If users need a battery case and do not want to wait, they are left to the sketchy Chinese knockoff’s on ebay or elsewhere, such as this case.
News on the quality of the first knockoff cables coming out of China, which had their own delays, hasn’t been great. If you need to charge/power a device, your probably going to be ok. But there are no guarantees, especially if you need to sync your device. Even while using an official cable and an older Belkin official iPhone compatible charger, you can frequently be left in the cold, with a message on your phone you are not using an approved cable. Clearly, if the new standard has kinks to work out if you are using official parts, then it may not be the best call to spend your hard earned money on a knock off product.
All of this begs the important question, why didn’t Apple setup a better licensing program to make products and so much earlier in the release process? As early as September 27th news made it out that Apple’s Made for iPhone approval certification would be problematic. The MFI program hasn’t released specs to most accessory makers until months after the iPhone release. Apple would in fact withhold certification many products which would delay production and shipping. So according to many researchers, accessories would not be shipping to retailers/consumers until Mid December or even through February.
With the new MFI certification program there are literally thousands of devices waiting in line for Apple to certify them. Waiting only AFTER Apple’s iPhone 5 announcement and specialized samples of parts which would be necessary to engineer even prototypes. Kensington Computer Products Peter Sgromo has said, “product plans are submitted to Apple once a device is announced and usually approved within four to six weeks of introduction.”
So, its December and products are slowly arriving, what happened to exacerbate this problem? Well Apple’s MFI progra didn’t have a conference in China until November 7th and 8th where it set new guidelines for the Lightning adapter. These guidelines included standards to prevent sweatshop environments and more.
All of this is well and good, but why didn’t Apple do all of this sooner? i.e., before the release, sometime in the summer. Why is the new Apple under Tim Cook moving Lightning accessories and products at a snail pace? If Apple is firing executives left and right such as the IOS Maps lead developer, why is the person at Apple who is in charge of this debacle immune? Three months after the September announcement, consumers are pretty upset at the lack of approved products.
People are waiting for the real powered accessories to start coming, not just the plastic/rubber iPhone 5 cases. All of this could have been handled better by Apple. And yes, this is kind of a poor fiasco for successful company.
-Peace, Love & Apple Pie!
http://www.iphonehacks.com/2012/10/apple-mfi-partners-cover-lightning-guidelines.html