Comments on: Apple’s Support For USB Type-C Shows it’s the Future of Connectivity http://www.vrworld.com/2015/03/11/apples-support-usb-type-c-shows-future-connectivity/ Thu, 09 Apr 2015 17:57:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1 By: MotorMouth http://www.vrworld.com/2015/03/11/apples-support-usb-type-c-shows-future-connectivity/#comment-10572 Thu, 12 Mar 2015 06:35:00 +0000 http://www.vrworld.com/?p=49693#comment-10572 Apple did NOT co-develop Thunderbolt. Intel developed everything, Apple just helped them go from using optical cable to copper wires. Intel owns ALL the IP on it. In any event, it’s just PCI Express and Display Port in a single connection, hardly earthshattering stuff. The reason Thunderbolt didn’t take off is because nobody needed it, as USB 3 provided similar speed improvements and full compatibility with legacy devices. It’s the same reason FireWire tanked – nobody wants to have to throw out all their existing peripherals just because they bought a new laptop.

Therein lies the problem with this new Type C connector – it’s a new plug that’s going to require an adapter to work with my existing hardware. I still have the very first USB 1 peripheral I ever bought (a MIDI interface) and it still works as well as it did in 1999.

I’m not about to throw it out but I am absolutely not going to buy a new computer that doesn’t support it and the several thousand dollars worth of other USB devices I already own.
That’s what will see Type C succeed or fail and, as of 5 minutes ago, I couldn’t find a single Type C adapter or connector or device on eBay. Given that USB 3 devices are the exception and USB 2 still dominates today, I think it is going to be many, many years before we see widespread acceptance of USB Type C.

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