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"Apple has been accused of exploiting its customers by offering an &amp;quot;ugly&amp;quot; and expensive adaptor that anyone who buys the new iPhone or iPod products will have to buy in order to use their older accessories.  The technology giant yesterday announced its new smartphone, the iPhone 5, which is fitted with a smaller dock connector than the 30-pin port featured in Apple products since 2003.   The new &amp;#039;Lightning&amp;#039; dock is around the size of a micro-USB and is designed to maximise space in iOS devices. Alongside the iPhone 5, it will also come in the latest iPods. The dock is used for charging, syncing files and sending audio to speaker systems, but any iPhone 5 buyers will not be able to use their existing accessories unless they buy an adaptor.  Apple has been criticised by users and some parts of the media for selling a Lightning to 30-pin adaptor for \u00A325 on its UK website. The product is being offered for $29 in the US, which is \u00A318.  The Lightning to 30-pin Adapter (0.2 meters) is even more pricey, at \u00A330. Alongside cost, there has also been criticism of the clunky design of the adaptor. Gizmodo gave a damning verdict on the adaptor, branding it as &amp;quot;ugly&amp;quot; and also accusing Apple of operating a &amp;quot;money-printing racket&amp;quot;.  Slate magazine&amp;#039;s Farhad Manjoo said that the dock was the &amp;quot;major problem&amp;quot; with the iPhone 5 as it renders lots of existing accessories &amp;quot;obsolete&amp;quot;.   &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve also got lots of charging cords sitting around my house, all designed to power up my phone and iPad wherever I go,&amp;quot; he wrote.  &amp;quot;Now all those things - tens of millions of iOS-compatible accessories - have been rendered obsolete. &amp;quot;The only way to plug the new iPhone and iPods into gadgets bearing the old dock is to buy an ungainly adapter. Apple will sell you the adapter for $29, which is the definition of being unfriendly to your customers.&amp;quot; Phil Schiller, Apple&amp;#039;s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said at the launch event that it was time for the iOS device dock connector to &amp;quot;evolve&amp;quot;. &amp;quot;The iPhone from its start used the 30 pin connector, and it has served us well,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;A lot has changed and it is time for the connector to evolve - and our new connector is called Lightning.&amp;quot; There will most likely be cheaper third-party versions of the Lightning adaptor on the market, but that has not stopped Apple being branded as &amp;#039;greedy&amp;#039; in the pricing of its proprietary product.   Posting on the Engadget website, one person wrote: &amp;quot;Amazing what Apple does with their proprietary connectors. Instead of having a universally accepted and used micro-USB interface, they continue to release new incompatible connectors.  &amp;quot;And when you&amp;#039;ve invested money in the old connectors for charging and syncing, you now have to purchase $29 for each adapter to allow them to still be used if you choose to buy a new iPhone 5. This $29 adapter that&amp;#039;s probably worth $3. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s all about money, and how through these adapters and royalties, Apple can make billions of dollars from all the iSheep people. &amp;quot;I was actually thinking of the iPhone 5 as an upgrade from my Android G2, but too much investment to feed Apple&amp;#039;s greed.&amp;quot; Another person said: &amp;quot;Got an apple product? there&amp;#039;s an adapter for that...&amp;quot; iPhone 5 product gallery:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/apple/news/a405800/apple-criticised-over-25-lightning-dock-adaptor/>