@ Rubin: Actually, I did get your sarcasm; I was just being a jerk. :)

To clarify, I’m not supporting the proprietary nature of the dock connector. Rather, I support the fact it is not limited to USB. Yes, the connector itself is proprietary, but the cable allows it to connect via standard USB. It works with USB car chargers, USB FM transmitters, and any PC, just to name the ones that I have personally used. But it also works with non-USB devices to provide video/audio out, Firewire connectivity, and others. It supports more than USB, while this standard which is USB-only. I agree they should have an open standard, but I don’t think this one is competitive enough.

Hah, you took my sarcasm as not. I’m annoyed with Apple and their stupid 30 pin dock. There was a while where I wanted to fashion a dock adapter that would go from 30 pin to USB mini female which would have been more pocketable then a iPod cable. I’m fed up with the number of cables I lug around with me, and for that is one of the reason’s I opted to let go of my iPod Mini. Now all I have is a single USB-a to mini cable for everything in my bag.

Micro has been around for a while, infact I’m fairly sure it’s been much longer then the iPods. Not to say I’m in support of the plug. The difference in footprint between the two (mini vs micro) when looking at the device side female port is so minor that if a device is using one they either, a) are cramming so much under the hood, or b) got a cheap deal on them. The only device I’ve owned so far that had this port was a 1.5″ by 1.5″ digital spy cam (no lcd screen).

But yea, back to my point. How many non Apple guest devices do you own which use their in house 30 pin dock? :)

Is it me, or are the other phone makers intentionally trying to lag behind Apple? USB is 4-pin. The iPod dock connector is 30-pin with pins left open for growth (BTW, thanks for the link, Rubin). I think phone makers screwed up by not jumping on USB earlier, but now they need to be thinking ahead, not merely trying to catch up, especially as we head into greater convergence and more powerful and complex devices.

Yes, because Apple is well known for not creating proprietary plugs and cables.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dock_connector