Apple moving away from FireWire?
We noted
yesterday that the new iPod revs are no longer coming with FireWire cables included. Of course the devices will still
work with FireWire, but ‘tis only ye olde USB 2.0 cable that now comes standard in the box. The explanation?
IDC analyst Susan Kevorkian says it’s three-fold: Apple is no longer tied to FireWire for charging the iPod, USB is the
more PC-friendly option of the two, and, of course, cost.
Some hopping mad Mac users have started a petition to Save FireWire. As of this writing, the online document had reached 1640 signatures. Finally, something that makes me glad I bought an iPod mini last week. ;) Is anyone else bummed about Apple cutting the cord on FireWire? Is anyone else shaking their head at Microsoft’s uncanny ability to dominate markets with inferior standards?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dwight Shih said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
I'm not super concerned. It's still the Year of DV. And Firewire is still going to be the dominant player in digital camcorders for some time to come.
While Firewire may be going away for iPods, I think that we'll have Firewire on our Macs for a while to come.
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Jack said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
For FireWire, as long as DV (Digital Video) is still hot in the consumer and pro worlds, we don't have much to worry about as far as FireWire goes. But what does concern me is what is going to happen to FireWire 800. Will that become the defactor standard on machines? WIll DV camcorders do FireWire 800?
The move towards USB 2.0 on Apple's part makes sense considering the hug amount of PC users go, but wouldn't it make more sense for Apple to include a dock with all iPods that can accept standard USB and FireWire cables? I know there is an off-market option for this, but I think most objections towards the cable issue would disappear if any one of us could just use whatever FireWire or USB cable with have hanging around with the iPod. I know I have extra cables of both types. If a third-party vendor in China makes a dock that can use them without a special connector, why not Apple?
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Chris K said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
WHAT? Microsoft is dominating the industry with their bad USB standard!?
Microsoft didn't write USB. They implemented it in 98 (or was it 95 OSR2?). They also implemented IEEE 1394 later on, in WinMe. Prior to that, any device maker could write a driver to implement either standard. In fact, someone could conceivably have created a NuBus card and made USB work on the original PowerMacs.
USB has problems with some devices when there is inadequate power on the bus to feed all the devices. If you get a decent powered USB hub the problem disappears. I have been using powered USB hubs for years, and even with more than eight devices connected to my PC I have never had any problems.
USB 1.x was too slow for high-bandwidth devices. It was never INTENDED for high-bandwidth devices. USB 2.0 handles it nicely, however, as is evidenced by the iPod.
Firewire is a nicer interface for high speed devices, sure. But USB 2.0 is good enough, and I wouldn't shed a tear if USB eliminated Firewire. The case for a single bus for ALL external devices is very compelling, and Firewire just ain't gonna happen for mice and other low-speed devices.
Personally, I hope Firewire slowly disappears as a standard feature just like serial/parallel ports. I'd rather have a single bus standard, and four USB ports on the back of my computer, than two USB and one Firewire.
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Mark H said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
Really, I don't see why people have a problem with Apple not including a FireWire cable with the new iPods. Look at the facts:
1. The vast majority of iPod buyers do not have FireWire capability. These people were paying for something that they are unable to use. This made Apple look bad, since they appeared to be ripping off their customers.
2. Including accessories costs Apple money. They will sell more iPods by cutting infrequently-used accessories and cutting the price by some large fraction of the cost of said accessories.
3. The FireWire cable is available for purchase separately. If your Mac only has USB1.1, buy the FireWire cable. Even with the purchase of a separate cable, the iPod is still cheaper than it was a couple of days ago.
4. Keeping the FireWire cable in the default package is highly unlikely to encourage PC makers to add FireWire capability to their products, since they already have a functional connection in USB2.0.
It makes perfect sense for Apple to do exactly what they did: drop the price of the product by dropping accessories that most people will not use. They also dropped the iPod dock from the high-end photo model. This makes sense for the same reason: more people will buy the iPod if it has a lower initial price, and the dock is not required for most of the functionality of the iPod. If someone wants the additional functionality offered by the dock, they can buy it separately. Those who don't want it shouldn't have to pay for it.
I do agree that it would be nice if they offered a package that had a FireWire cable instead of the USB cable, but overall Apple is making the correct decision, both from the standpoint of helping their business, and from the standpoint of offering their customers the best value.
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Ruud said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
"Finally, something that makes me glad I bought an iPod mini last week. ;)"
It'd still be $30 cheaper this week even if you bought the firewire cable seperately.
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Lee said 7:15PM on 6-28-2005
Lower iPod Prices usually mean lower profit margins.
Not including Firewires and docks mean higher profit margins.
Most firewires end up in drawer of PC users anyway (like the usb2 wire for my mac)
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barb dybwad said 4:41PM on 10-07-2005
Which renders it officially not worth the hour it would take me to exchange it. So now I can feel justified and safely ignore the fact that I likely wouldn't have returned it even if it *had* been worth it. ;)
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Philip B said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
Chris K
Don't be so quick to drop Firewire.
Firewire is a better design than USB, for many reasons. For example decent amounts of power available avoiding power brick colonies; symmetrical (peer to peer) design versus master/slave design (allowing eg IP over firewire); only one standard cable that connects either way round versus A-A cables and A-B cables. Fully viable without hubs; if it plugs in, it'll work. No "slow mode" where slow devices consume the bus bandwidth needlessly.
I think USB was about industry control politics more than saving 20 cents a device over firewire. Even then, it took Apple to kick USB into life with the iMac.
I'd be happier to loose USB than firewire, especially now there's Bluetooth too. Won't happpen until Mac has at least 40% market share. So USB it is, unfortunately.
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S? Lund said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
Why oh why should we care whether or not synching and charging is done using USB or Firewire? As long as the job gets done right? Why would anyone even consider to gather signatures to get Firewire back, it just seems like such a waste of time, time which could have been spent enjoying life :)
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Chris K said 4:14PM on 6-16-2005
Oh, I know well the advantages of 1394, Philip. I question the usefulness of IP over Firewire when we have 802.11 and plain old Ethernet, and A/B cables have never been a big problem for me. Forcing the bus to low speed I agree is a problem, but not one that I imagine affects many users who aren't aware of how to work around the problem to begin with.
The big problem I have with Firewire is that nobody (even Apple) uses it for low-speed perhiperals like mice. It's a chicken and the egg problem. If both buses were equally supported and I had no devices for either, I'd prefer Firewire. But I have a bunch of USB devices, and there aren't many Firewire devices on the market (comparitively). Since USB has "won" the market share, and USB2 can do high-speed almost as well as Firewire (and is indeed "good enough"), I'd like to see Firewire relegated to where it was a couple years ago on the PC: something you buy a PCI card for if you want.
Two serial buses is a waste of money and space for our computers, and only confuses new computer users.
Think back, years ago when we had two serial ports and a single parallel port on our PC's. How often did you want an extra serial port? What if PC's had four serial ports, but no parallel ports? (And printers were serial.) That would have been much easier to deal with, right?
A single serial bus would be paradise. Firewire is preferable, but USB is good enough IMHO.
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