According to ARS report Friday, Apple has resolved the technical issues linked with the 30-Pin and Lightening Connectors and is now available to MFi licensees for free.
"Our technical specifications provide clear guidelines for developing accessories and they are available to MFi licensees for free. We support accessories that integrate USB and Lightning connectors, but there were technical issues that prevented accessories from integrating 30-pin and Lightning connectors, so our guidelines did not allow this," Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr told ARS on Friday. "We have been working to resolve this and have updated our guidelines to allow accessories to integrate both 30-pin and Lightning connectors to support charging."
The launch of iPhone 5 had delayed the Kickstarter campaign, James Siminoff, the creator of the POP Kickstarter campaign told ARS.
"We were already a member of the MFi program before the release of the iPhone 5. When we came out with the project, one of the biggest questions we got was whether we'd support the iPhone 5, and we said 'absolutely,'" Siminoff said. "At the time, there was no reason to think that they would change the way in which they're selling [the MFi program]."
Siminoff recalled when Apple was revising their guidelines that said the Lightening connectors cannot be sold with any other type of connecter.
"They started to come out with guidelines, and there was one that said Lightning would not be allowed in any product that has 30-pin," he told ARS. "We didn't clarify if that was for chargers or a docking station-we assumed the latter-so while we saw it, it didn't seem to make sense for what we were doing that they would not allow these two things to be on the same device.
"Maybe we should've seen that and decided that we can't make [the POP charger]. But it didn't make any rational sense," Siminoff added. "At the same time, they were changing things, updating the policies, so we said, 'OK we'll submit the project [to the MFi program] and see what happens.'"
Siminoff says they were advised to design a product with just a USB which upset him and was willing to withdraw the whole project. The product Siminoff's company had designed was with clean cables and a single charging station without any adaptors and ports to plug in.
"If it has to be an Apple-only product, and Lightning can't be next to, say, an Android charger, then it's still not something we want to make, Siminoff said after hearing the news about Apple's updated guidelines. "I hope they become customer friendly. Maybe we will be able to do [the POP charger] after all."
