The new iPhone (and new iPad) cable connector has been about as controversial as a gadget cable connector can get. It’s smaller, which is nice, but it’s also expensive and incompatible with everything. That’s why I love this little adaptor.
The European Union already forces Apple to sell this adaptor, which will turn any microUSB cable into an iPhone and iPad compatible Lightning connector, because the EU realises how dumb it is for every smartphone not to use the same cable to charge and sync. Elsewhere, Apple is free to stick proprietary everything and everything, but now it’s selling the adaptor here too.
There are some complaints. It’s $25 in Australia — the exact same price as a new, separate Lightning cable, which is annoying. But if you (or your friends, local bars, parents’ house) are teeming with old USB cables for pretty much every other gadget under the sun, this tiny chip will make ’em all work with your new Apple gear. [Apple via MacRumors]