
42 Scalable Innovation
transfer your content and apps from a laptop to an iPhone, one had to use a
cable with a USB interface on one side and the 30-pin connector on the other.
If you wanted to play music through an iPhone-compatible car audio system,
you had to plug the device right into the car’s 30-pin dock. Since Apple owns
a number of patents on the interface, manufacturers of the cable itself and the
car audio system must license Apple’s IP and pay royalties.
Besides making money for Apple, the proprietary interface allows the
company to innovate independently from the standards bodies, who can be
rather slow in making their technology dec ...