Next week Apple’s new iPhone is expected to be announced with a new dock connector. It is still a secret exactly what kind of a dock it will be. Some rumors are that the old 30-pin dock will just get an adapter although it is not known if it will work only on the newest iPhones or also with the older ones. The current dock design has been present from the very beginning and after 9 years could really use a replacement. Many companies are already planning to overcome this (if there is actually a change) with Bluetooth enabled parts that will provide music or video output. So far most of the rumors are around auris by Touchkraft LLC and CoolStream. While auris is a kickstarter project that is yet to be funded, you can buy CoolStream for $39.99 from Amazon.
Auris will accept preorders at a price of $24 per unit, and will be available at a retail price of $40. However, these are not the only solutions and there are plenty of them available already. There are always cheaper Chinese versions of everything, and of course same goes for this, just check eBay or Amazon for “wireless Bluetooth music receiver for dock station” and you will find more than enough. The prices are also similar for these products, starting at $20. The main problem with all of these devices is that they won’t power themselves, so you have to place them near wall outlet.If you plan to buy some new equipment for your fancy smartphone which happens to have that bitten apple logo on the back you might want to consider waiting just a bit to see what the final dock connector looks like. No matter what, if there is a new connector it will mean that all of your current iPhone equipment will become pretty much useless, very fast. That is unless someone creates some kind of adapter to allow users to continue to use this older hardware for a while longer. Given Apple’s track record with accessory makers it will probably be something like “Here is our new adapter, now buy all new gear to make us some more money”.
[Ed – We have had the chance to talk to more than a few accessory makers for iPhone products and all of them have stated quite clearly that Apple does what they want. If Apple is indeed changing the dock and keeping the sale and manufacture of the actual adapter to themselves it means that there is little chance that third party vendors will get access to it right away. We would not be surprised to see Apple launch the new iPhone with a nice array of Apple branded accessories including speaker dock, clock and more. It would be nothing for them to push into this market and alienate their partners; it is simply what they do.]
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