Looks Like the iPhone 5 Lightning Adapter is BIG Apple Evil

Just when I was feeling all warm and fuzzy about Apple . . .

So by now you’ve heard all the opinions on Apple’s iPhone 5. Maybe you’re one of the several million people who’s already bought one. Maybe you don’t care about the fact that the iPhone 5 isn’t really all that much of a jump from the iPhone 4S, and excitedly bought one anyway (tools, toys . . . ).

Maybe you live in the UK, and so you’re relieved that Apple is making a Lightning-to-USB converter available for the iPhone 5, despite its ridiculous price.

Maybe, like me, you were incredulous for the last nine years as Apple never once changed the connector on iDevices, and then even more so when they decided that Lightning was the way to go despite the havoc it wrecked upon so many people and the number of incompatible accessories Lightning makes useless; because of Lightning in the iPhone 5 some BMW owners actually now have obsolete cars!

It just got worse.

While it’s uncertain for the moment what the “real” outcome of this is going to be, it looks as though people who try to buy third-party iPhone 5 accessories to save money will have a problem. The iPhone 5 Lightning adapters have a mysterious chip in them that looks to be a “not genuine Apple? not going to work” failsafe to ensure Apple or their anointed partners sell all of the (expensive) adapters for the iPhone 5. And presumably all future iDevices.

Turns out I was wrong. The manner that the iPhone 5 was designed may still seem silly, but if iPhone 5 ChipGate turns out to be true I’m going to roll back to something I’ve said about a dozen times, here: Apple is Evil.

It maximizes profit, so it’s certainly an effective business model, but it isn’t a very good business change. Then again, in Apple’s case it looks like the iPhone 5 and Lightning represent business as usual.

You aren’t doing business this way, right?