Great piece by Joe from Salem on small companies, and challenges faced by a long-time change:
Despite setting sales records and drawing praise for its zippy performance and large screen, Apple’s new iPhone is causing headaches, and not just as the harbinger of a major map catastrophe. The problem: The new “Lightning” connector, in all its skinny glory, has laid waste to millions of existing iPhone accessories, affecting customers and gadget designers alike.
Apple’s previous interface, the 30-pin connector, serviced over 400 million iPhones and iPads since 2003. The ubiquity of that connector spawned a market for accessories worth $20 billion a year. Inventors managed to use it to turn iOS devices into everything from guitar effect pedals to FDA-regulated medical devices.
(For perspective, the entire recorded music industry only produces $6 billion of revenue per year. The gadget that originated as a music player has now created an industry three times larger than the one it originally served.)
While Lightning was barely discussed at the iPhone 5 keynote, it’s causing independent design firms, loosely bankrolled by personal sources and Kickstarter campaigns, to scramble for alterations. How are they adjusting for the new protocol? We reached out to a few of the affected creators to hear their plans.
