Apple's wicked 30-pin Dock Connector is dead!

A new, smaller Micro USB port was spotted on the bottom of leaked iPhone 5 parts in a post on Mobilefun as well as in this video. Now TechCrunch has confirmed that Apple is indeed switching to a "19-pin" (presumably Micro USB) port on its forthcoming iPhone 5.

I've always detested Apple's dreadful 30-pin "Dock Connector" and its associated cable. Here are some of the reasons why:

It's proprietary. This means that if you want to charge or sync your iOS device, you need to buy one of these puppies from Apple. Sure, there are copies made by third parties, but they're usually lower quality, don't always work well and rarely last as long as the Apple OEM version.

It's expensive. The OEM Dock Connector to USB Cable (Apple PN MA591G/B) will set you back $19 (plus shipping). That's a King's ransom considering that a 6-foot Micro USB cable can be purchased for $0.59 (with free shipping!) That makes the Apple Dock Connector cable half as short and 32 times more expensive than Micro USB.

The cable's too short. At a paltry 39" (0.9m), the Apple Dock Connector cable is a hair over a yard (and under one meter) in length. Which is about long enough to reach from the surge protector on your floor to a short table. Heck it barely reaches to the top of a standard 32-inch high desk. Most people need to buy a longer version -- which Apple doesn't make -- leading to the aforementioned quality and power problems (especially with the new power-hungry iPad 3).

It's a crutch. Apple relied on its proprietary, expensive Dock Connector cable as the only way to sync its revolutionary iPhone for far too long. Especially for a device with three (count 'em) wireless radios.

The connector itself is enormous. At 26.1mm x 5.7mm the Dock Connector itself is almost 4 times larger (in each dimension) than a Micro USB plug, which measures a svelte 6.85mm x 1.8mm, which is over 12 times larger in volume (148.77 cubic mm vs. 12.33 cubic mm). The Dock Connector is the only reason that the iPod nano is as large as it is.

It was antiquated in 2007. Micro USB connector technology was announced by the USB Implementers Forum on January 4, 2007.

It's illegal. The European Commission approved a policy requiring all mobile phones to adopt the standard Micro USB charging connector beginning in January 2011. In October 2011 Apple began bundling European iPhones with an iPhone Micro USB Adapter to comply with the new law.

(The new Apple dongle, incidentally, is available in the US on eBay and Amazon for around $13.)

Although today's news is sure to send shockwaves through the third-party accessory community, I will happily dance a jig on the Dock Connector's grave when it happens.

iPhone 5 dumping Dock Connector for 'chipped' Micro MagSafe?

I assumed that the smaller charging port on the bottom of recent iPhone 5 leaks was a Micro USB port but Apple might not dump its lucrative licensing business so quickly after all.

It looks like I might have started dancing a jig a little prematurely. After seeing the new, smaller opening on the bottom of some leaked iPhone 5 components, I assumed that Apple was dropping the venerable Dock Connector port on its iOS devices in favor of the Micro USB standard.
Well, I might be wrong.
Terry Flores noted in the comments that Micro USB isn't 19-pins (as TechCrunch confirmed the new port on the iPhone 5 is). MobileFun notes that the new connector on the iPhone 5 is "much smaller, similar in size to micro USB."
In a comment under the TechCrunch post, Robert Scoble throws water on my Micro USB theory.
Scoble quotes an engineer "working in the phone world" as saying that Apple is moving from the Dock Connector to a MagSafe-like magnetic latch (like the one on the MacBook Air and Pro) -- and even worse than the Dock Connector it replaces -- the new cable will "include chips to verify licensing of accessories to be used with the devices" (like Apple's current Thunderbolt cable, pictured above). His source goes on to explain that "there is a chip in both ends of the new power supply that ensure that it is an official device."
Dear Lord.
If this pans out, it means that instead of embracing a worldwide standard for syncing and charging smartphones (Micro USB) Apple will adopt an even more expensive and even more proprietary port and cable to protect its highly lucrative "Made For iPhone" (MFi) licensing program.
I'm not thrilled that it's still proprietary and it'll certainly be expensive, but the MagSafe part is a good idea. Or isn't it?
What the heck will Apple do in the EU? Include another dongle?

Apple wins U.S. sales injunction against Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Apple has won a preliminary injunction barring U.S. sales of Samsung's iPad rival, the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

 Apple has prevailed in seeking a preliminary sales injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet over the alleged infringement of the iPad's patented design.

The win marks a major victory for Apple in the ongoing "thermonuclear war" against rival mobile operating system Google's Android.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh previously rejected Apple's attempt to block the tablet in the U.S., but was forced to reconsider her position following an appeals court ruling.
Once Apple posts a $2.6 million bond to protect Samsung against damages should the injunction be appealed and overturned, the sales ban can come into force.
"Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products," Koh wrote on Tuesday.
"While Samsung will certainly suffer lost sales from the issuance of an injunction, the hardship to Apple of having to directly compete with Samsung’s infringing products outweighs Samsung’s harm in light of the previous findings by the Court."
Samsung will likely appeal the ruling, though a spokesperson was unavailable for comment at the time of writing to confirm the company's next move.
A Samsung statement said: "Should Apple continue to make legal claims based on such a generic design patent, design innovation and progress in the industry could be restricted."
An Apple spokesperson said that "this kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we've said many times before, we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas," reiterating an earlier company statement. The Cupertino-based company did not say when --- or even if --- the bond would be posted.
The case hinges on a single design patent owned by Apple that protects the aesthetics of its iPad tablet. But many have argued the patent is too broad and could stifle innovation in the burgeoning tablet market.
Apple has more than 60 percent of the tablet market and sold more than 13.6 million iPads in the first calendar quarter. Samsung only sold 1.6 million tablets, giving the Korean-based technology giant just over 7 percent of the overall market share. 

Businesses can create passes for iOS 6 Passbook today

A new website allows anyone to create passes for iOS 6 Passbook (for boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, loyalty cards, etc.) ahead of the public release of the API.

At WWDC12 last week -- alongside the iOS 6 Developer Preview -- Apple debuted a new app called Passbook that has the potential to disrupt mobile payments ("m-commerce") and to turn the iPhone into the digital wallet of the future.
Here's the description of Passbook from Apple's iOS 6 preview page:

Your boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, loyalty cards, and more are now all in one place. With Passbook, you can scan your iPhone or iPod touch to check in for a flight, get into a movie, and redeem a coupon. You can also see when your coupons expire, where your concert seats are, and the balance left on that all-important coffee bar card. Wake your iPhone or iPod touch, and passes appear on your Lock screen at the appropriate time and place — like when you reach the airport or walk into the store to redeem your gift card or coupon. And if your gate changes after you’ve checked in for your flight, Passbook will even alert you to make sure you’re not relaxing in the wrong terminal.

When I first launched the Passbook beta I was underwhelmed because it didn't do anything besides display a splash screen. As it turns out, the app requires retailers and vendors to release passbook compatible files (called "passes") to enable the app's functionality.
iPhoneHacks published an article on how business owners can jump on the Passbook bandwagon ahead of Apple's pubic release of its Pass Kit APIs.
Some enterprising developers created a website called PassSource that allows users to create test passes for the Passbook app today. Here's how.

• Point your iOS 6 device's Safari browser to passsource.com
• Tap on Individual Passes
• Here you'll see different types of test pass options. Select one of the them.
• You will now see several fields that can be edited. Leave everything as default and tap on the Create button at the bottom.
• Once the pass is created, you will see the preview of the pass. Tap on the Add button at the top right corner to add the pass to the Passbook app.
• Launch the Passbook app and you should see the test pass in the app. You can tap on the Settings option in the bottom right corner to set Notifications when there are updates to the pass or to show up in the lock screen based on time or location.

Smart retail establishments and businesses would be well served by getting ahead of the curve on Passbook by creating their passes now. Once created, passes can be distributed by email or by posting them on a website and vendors can set them to appear at certain times or locations and update items with push notifications.