Apple is moving to stop third party firms from creating cheaper alternative adaptors for Macs, launching a lawsuit against one such vendor. Third party adapters are being sold by bigger retailers like Amazon through 3rd party channels.
Apple on Monday filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Media Solutions Holdings. In the suit, the company says the other firm sells “various consumer electronic accessories at retail, including knock-off power adapters for use with genuine Apple portable computers,
This is normal because of the patent on the magnetic connector. You make it sound like it’s just a knock off, but it isn’t if it infringes on the patent. Other power adapters, for other computers are not patented. Thus “knock-offs” are allowed in those cases.
Yes, but it’d be nice if Apple would license their connector to third parties. Apple doesn’t make a power product for every need (e.g. external batteries) – this is especially important now that you can’t swap the batteries in Apple’s portables. If you have to go somewhere where there’s no power for more than 6 hours, your solutions are severely limited.
You’re making the assumption that licensing terms are readily enforcable. Enforcing licensing terms is very expensive; if you lose a licensing court case in a foreign country, you could permanently lose substantial intellectual property rights in that country.
But regardless of licensing costs, I’m quite confident that the low-cost asian knock-off companies aren’t willing to license anything from anyone. When they get busted, they just change their name, move two doors down, and keep selling.
Are you daft?
“Apple should license to third parties…”
Yeah, I guess that Apple should then repair the damage when those cheap third-party power cords burn out your I/O board too??? Then you’ll be bitching about how much money you spent on your notebook and the fact that Apple won’t repair it.
Everyone wants cheap shit these days. This is why Americans are losing jobs to China.
I hope Apple sues the pants off these fuckers!
If you have an iPod, an iMac, an Apple product, a mobile ‘phone, in fact any pieces of consumer electronics or popular clothing then you are as much part of the problem as anyone else. At least 1 thing you own is made in China, or has Chinese components in it, or was made in the far east using slave/l;ow cost labour, so it’d be better to climb down from your moral orange box atop you turreted bungalow.
Apple’s very own gear is made in the far east, and if you care to recall their power adapters needed recalling since the external sheathing/insulation broke down and exposed the internal cable. Some caught fire. Apple had batteries catch fire (รก la Sony) and have seen numerous mass failures, so somehow intimating that if it’s got the Apple logo on it and is official is some guarantee of amazing quality is simply naive. In all likelihood, some of their stuff is probably made int he same factory as the knock-offs, or at least some of the components are.
Apple SHOULD license the MagSafe connector out. That would mean that those of us who travel can more easily borrow adapters from the airlines when we fly (Virgin do this) and that if Apple doesn’t make a specific solution for us, we can still obtain it. The Apple eco system could easily support new products with MagSafe connectors and it would see further development and use of what is a great little idea.
@Macnerd
Oh shut the fuck up you stupid Bitch Monkey!
Are you trying to make a point or unplug your constipation?
Apple SHOULD fuckin sue you too!
I couldn’t have said it better!
someone in the Market will fill it. Perhaps Apple wouldn’t have a problem with this if they made a quality power adapter, at a reasonable price. I have had 3 apple laptops. My G3 Wallstreet power adapter failed and was recalled. I went through 3 adapters for my Powerbook G4. I now have a 2008 MacBook Pro… and it is starting to fail. Apple power adapters always fail at the same point… where the plug into the computer meets the cord. I love apple computers, but seriously how hard is it to engineer a cord that will not fray, split off or break? Sure, they can manufacture a laptop from a solid slab of Aluminum, but engineering a power cord kicks their ass.
It would be nice if Apple incorporated some sort of plastic elbow to protect the end of the wire that attaches to the mag safe adapter. They have designed protection where the cord comes out of the brick, but not at the end where the mag safe adapter is.
It’s still better than any PC adapter. I have gone thru countless adapter from Dell, HP and Toshiba over the years with my clients laptops and only a handfull of Mac ones. I don’t like how they still spark when you plug them in though.
The patent referenced is a design patent for the Apple “square white brick power supply” used since the PowerBook and iBooks of 2003. If the knock-off company created an adapter that didn’t look like an Apple power brick, there’d be no violation of this patent.
These are true knock-offs in every sense of the word. The manufacturer could easily avoid violating this patent by making their adapters look different. A traditional black brick design would fit the bill. They could even make it a white brick. But to have a brick design just like Apple’s is clearly a design rip-off.
I respect Apple’s concern for patent infringement, but, as mentioned more than once, the quality and robustness of Apple’s chargers is historically typically poor. Given that Apple charges much more than its competitors for chargers I suspect Apple has more concern for profits than customer satisfaction.
Perhaps Apple could lower the prices of their products and recapture sales that would go to the “knockoff”companies. This would save Apple the cost of legal fees, make Apple customers happy, and effectively solve their problems with their competitors.
No. Buy Applecare like you’re supposed to and the power adapters are covered for 3 years. Magically those “high prices” become free.
Um… AppleCare is far from free, so buying AppleCare now to avoid possibly buying power adapters later also isn’t free. But there’s a job for you in the Obama administration.
Purchasing Apple Care increases the cost of every Apple item and demonstrates that the buyer has no faith in the long-term usefulness of the device. I could buy a POS charger from a third party for x dollars or pay Apple 3x dollars for the same POS.
Which would you choose?
First, Apple leads in customer satisfaction, so your major premise is down for the count.
Second, I’ve been using Apples since 1985, and ALL of my charging devices still work, as well as the computers themselves (about 30 of them)–desktops, laptops, iPods, iTouches. Maybe it’s because I started buying Macs when they were $3K + and that was a ton of money, so I took care of my machines. Maybe now everyone just treats them as toss-away appliances, and that’s why their stuff breaks. Look inward.
Finally, why should Apple lower their prices. You think if Apple made the chargers $25 the knockoff artists wouldn’t make theirs $15? Apple has significant investment in their products and should be able to get what they can for them. The knock-offs can ruin your computer and good luck with their customer service.
One of the best comments so far! Thumbs up!
True there are (and will always be) defects every now and then but people should take really good care of there machines/devices/accessories. Some people think they are being overcharged for the adapters but Apple feels superior for inventing the simple (but now one else thought of it) magnetic concept.
Thank you for talking sense. I, like you, have had many Apple products and have never encountered issues with my power supply. Matter of fact, the power supply to my Powerbook 170 still functions happily. Even with more current Powerbooks/MacBook Pro’s, I ‘ve never had issues.
I don’t think that it’s rocket science to think that if an owner treats their property well that it’ll last. I tend to think it’s the “throw away” attitude that causes some of the problems. I equally feel confident that the above statement will be disputed by someone.
I’ve worked doing macintosh service for nearly a decade now and I can say that the quality of apple’s adapters have fluctuated. If you’ve never had one fail, you’re lucky. You’re also just as likely to have all of your fail. It really just depends on when you got the adapter.
That being said, if you use the adapter properly it shouldn’t fail due to the common causes people seem to have. I’m just as guilty as the next guy at pulling the MagSafe connector from the cord and not the tip. If you remove it by the tip, you’re far less likely to have problems with the adapter. But, as apple has built in MagSafe to the connector, people have gotten worse about taking care of their plugs.
While Apple should have done more real-use testing on the magsafe adapters to limit these problems, they can’t eliminate the problem because unless they make the cord unwieldy it won’t be completely idiot proof.
I do believe Apple should be licensing this technology. For one, it’s a great technology for laptops and overall the computer industry will be better off to have it on all decent laptops. Also, we need it for non-standard uses that Apple does not cover.. such as the auto adapter. The great thing about licensing is that they could require the licensee to have their adapters tested to make sure they are of a quality that will not damage the macs they are used with.
After about 1.5 years of use all of my apple cords start to get messed up and exposed. Like another commenter said, maybe if Apple made their cords less expensive or better quality they wouldn’t need to sue.
I bought one for like $20 and it works perfectly. An alternative to paying like $79 is nice. I get a bit upset that Apple fleeces me for every single product. I mean I have 5 iPods, 1 iPhone, MBP, MB, Imac, 3 airport expresses, TimeMachine, Airport Extreme (collecting dust), AppleTV. I pay a premium for their products and services which I’m ok with, but man, do they need to fleece me for everything?