Apple Will Require Approval For Third-Party Lightning Accessories

After hearing that Apple's Lightning cables have authentication chips on the inside, we're now told that Apple will require that all factories wanting to manufacturer Lightning accessories must be approved by Apple first. The company is said to have made changes to its policies that now tighten the control over Lightning cables and accessories even more.

However, it's reported that Apple hasn't approved any third-party manufacturers yet, but the company is planning a special seminar to take place in China sometime within the next few weeks where interested manufacturers will be required to attend if they want to begin producing and selling Lightning accessories.

Obviously, some users haven't been to happy about the switch from the 30-pin connector to the new 9-pin Lightning connector, mostly because the adapter alone costs $30 and a new Lightning cabled costs $20, not to mention that both items are on backorder. Granted the iPhone 5 comes with a Lightning cable of its own, but a lot of users usually have a handful of cables stashed away in different places out of convenience.

Apple's decision to ditch the 30-pin connector used in all of its previous iOS devices has been controversial to say the least, but the company said it needed to change the design and shrink the connector in order to get the iPhone 5 to a thinner 7.6mm thickness. We certainly can't blame them, and the switch to a smaller connector will certainly allow Apple to compete with other smaller connectors like microUSB, but whether or not the change is worth it is still yet to be decided.

[via iLounge]