When Apple introduced the iPhone 5 last fall, it turned the iOS accessory market upside down. In addition to the new handset, the company unveiled its new Lightning dock connector—a 9 pin port that instantly made millions of add-ons obsolete.
But Apple didn’t just change the connector, it also tightened up the requirements for its third-party MFi accessory program. And today, Mophie, who just announced the Helium battery case for the iPhone 5, offers some insight on the changes… Read More
Back in September, things were going pretty good for the folks at Edison Junior. Their Kickstarter project POP, a portable power station, was a huge success, raising more than $100,000. And they were hoping to start shipping the accessory by early December.
But unfortunately, instead of mailing out POPs to their backers this month, Edison Junior is trying to figure out how to not go broke returning everyone’s money. It seems that Apple has rejected their application for a Lightning certificate, forcing them to shut down… Read More
Apple is expected in early November to lay down the law to its developers on producing Lightning connectors. Among the Apple edicts: Lightning pins will be strictly controlled by the iPhone maker, which will provide them to “approved [developers] with production quantities of the pin once their product is determined to have met its standards and specifications,” according to TechCrunch.
As for potential knock-offs, the blog cites a source who warns lawsuits and import confiscations could be in their future. Without providing details, the source described as being “close to the program,” suggests the Cupertino, Calif. company will provide “additional security against low-quality copies” of the new iDevice connector… Read More
