Last week, electronics firm Edison Jr. was forced to cancel the Kickstarter project they had begun after being told by Apple that it violated their accessory guidelines. The Kickstarter project, which had already earned $140,000 with a goal of $50,000, was a product called the POP, a device meant to help elegantly charge a wide variety of products.
The problem with the device, according to Apple, was that accessories were not allowed to have both Lightning and 30-pin connectors packaged together. This was likely a decision made by Apple to help ensure a more rapid adoption of its Lightning technology and to prevent people from continuing to rely on the old 30 pin technology.
After the POP Kickstarter project was forced to be cancelled, however, public outcry was loud enough to get Apple to adjust their guidelines to allow for the POP device and ones similar to it.
Apple gave CNET a vague and confusing statement on the matter: “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.”
Learn more about the revived POP product here.
