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Firm says it has 'permanently' cracked Lightning authentication
A Chinese company, iPhone5mod, claims to have "permanently" solved the problem of iOS 7 popping up warnings for uncertified Lightning accessories. The solution is said to be hardware-based, and irreversible by Apple unless the company redesigns its Lightning technology. iPhone5mod is now selling five iOS 7-compatible accessories, include three cables and two iPhone 5 docks.
iPhone5mod has caused trouble for Apple multiple times. The first saw it receive a takedown notification when it offered a case mod that made an iPhone 4S resemble an iPhone 5. It was also the first entity to offer uncertified Lightning accessories at a time when Apple was still working on third-party licensing.
Authorized Lightning accessories use special authentication chips. The design has been somewhat controversial, since it allows Apple to exercise more control over the iOS accessories market than it had with the previous 30-pin connection format. Apple, however, may see the chips as a way of ensuring better quality.
well...Apple...when you make your junk in China....and screw many Americans out of potential Jobs...you should expect this behavior....I'm sure there was a lot of complicity in this from more than one source.
Even China has (or should have) anti-counterfeiting laws. Oh, and Arne: so can you name me a product that is "fully compliant with open standards" and is also "the best product there is" that is sold entirely on the fact that its better-looking than the competitors?
Name a product that fully compliant with open standards... This certainly merits a long study; but right away I can imagine an iDevice I would love to see - and maybe even purchase
Say an iPhone equipped with the EC required microUSB port so users could share chargers and cables, whilst avoiding creating yet more electronic waste with each product iteration. The convenience of using the same cable without carrying a dongle for your iPhone, camera, mouse, etc... would make packing for a presentation quite a lot less stressful. Not to say anything of the wealth of devices an OTG compliant port would bring.
Or how about user replaceable batteries, my early 1990's (back then) ground breaking Newton has them, so at some point Apple must have considered this to be an asset (actually a feature proudly mentioned on it's presentation). Besides adding a back cover they did not took away much from the look or feel of the device. And of course when they died you did not have to wait to get a new one factory installed. This brings up the issue of chargers, AC sockets on airports, and just tidying up your weekend travel bag; a dead battery come Saturday, no problem just swap it with a spare.
Full Bluetooth capabilities would be a nice addition as well. Wireless file transfers and eCard sending would not consume as much power as WiFi, and bring the iPhone to the same level as a good old 90's Palm Pilot.
Connectivity reminds me of how useful the infra red port on the Message Pad, as well as on most devices until a few years back was. You could send files without pairing or worrying too much about security due to the short range and directional nature of the IR ports. And it could double an TV remote in a pinch; now that was convenient. I hear some new devices like the very popular HTC One has it, so it must be coming back.
And how about removable storage... Of course there are well worn arguments both pro and against; but somehow it seems most arguments against it favor mostly the device's manufacturer rather than the user.
I only get to see iDevice users hunting for Apple cables, an outlet, or just amazed at how can any other smart phone can very easily transfer ring tones , contacts, or even photos with decade old Nokia candy bar phones; but I am sure a communications professional like yourself can fill up page after page with great ideas.
So in other words, you can't name a "best in class" product that is fully compliant with open standards that distinguishes itself on appearance/design alone.
Thought as much. Maybe someday you'll figure out why that is.
This could be true, but frankly I'm taking this with a big ol' grain of salt until they start shipping products to prove it. Quite frankly, Chinese companies lie. A lot. And they aren't afraid to export products which just plain don't work. While this may be a huge crack in Apple's design, it may also be the first stage in a fraud which ends with thousands of people who bought cheap products advertised as unauthorized but working Lightning knockoffs but end up getting things which are nothing of the kind. (Go look at cheap iPad docks; you'll see that the really cheap ones almost exclusively have reviews which say either "this didn't work out of the box" or "the item I was shipped was not the one pictured".)
Well done zinger by Arne_Saknussemm. Very clever reference to the cube. It speaks volumes that he only had to go back a dozen years to find a failed Apple design.
I like standardization. It makes things easier for the owners - us. I really wish standardized batteries would come to cordless tools. A proprietary implementation should offer a significant benefit to us. Otherwise it's either a poorly thought out feature, or a vendor lock-in attempt.
ff11, chas_m - your arguments would be more persuasive if you addressed several of Arne's points. Not just one point apiece. I thought his/her post was well written.
Reader50, thanks.
I did not think this article would be this important to readers, much less an administrator. My first post was quite "trolish" (as they usually are ) but chas_m's reply made me think of the Apple products I saw back in college that made all ID students drool in admiration and wait in line to use even though back then the Vaxes were a lot more powerful...
Then Apple's management announced proudly their products were meant to explore new ideas and to be explored themselves, as users could actually access the internals of the devices.
The age of hight tech "consumer electronics" has certainly made accessible to just about anyone wonderful new devices, and admittedly most users will never care to even see what is inside their latest gadget. But the Mac Pro was the last of Apples offerings to still cater to the early adopters and high end pros as well; seeing how on it's latest incarnation every expansion now has to be done externally with $50 cables feels like a big let down to us old Mac fans.
This further pushes users who need all the power we can get into believing all the company cares for is either media consumption consumers or art lovers; for Design, is the only aspect each new Apple product is even better than the previous one (although I have to confess my favorite iPhone was the first one with it's rounded hand fitting back).
I never understand why technology is so ideological like this. Just use what works best for you or what you like and STFU, that's what I say. It's not a big deal if somebody prefers something else, and is certainly not worth the sneering or rooting for failure.
All of this has always been especially funny to me when it comes to these mobile devices, which for most people are luxuries/toys.
This devices are meant to be just tools, and I see myself agreeing with 99.9% of posts here; but maybe that is one of the things that makes Apple special:
How the company makes people who under most criteria could be said to think very much alike, feel so much passion about what amounts to really small details...
This devices are meant to be just tools, and I see myself agreeing with 99.9% of posts here; but maybe that is one of the things that makes Apple special:
How the company makes people who under most criteria could be said to think very much alike, feel so much passion about what amounts to really small details...
I understand the passion because I used to be a passionate fanboy too, but I grew out of that and I figured that others would have too. Maybe the people making the ideological comments are younger generation newbs, I don't know.
Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, etc. are just tech companies interested in your money like any other company, not sports teams or political parties. Why somebody should experience pleasure or dismay at their successes and/or failures for an extended period of time I just don't get.
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