I love Apple products. I've been an Apple person since the 80s and am still firmly a fan of what Cupertino has to offer. However, I am most definitely NOT a fan of Apple's accessory philosophy. This is due to a number of reasons:

1. They are really expensive. $30 for a thingy that connects my computer to a monitor or projector?!?!?

2. They take proprietary to a whole new level. Seriously, I'm all for owning an idea/ product that is rightfully yours. But holy cow they go against the grain so hard, you need to buy one of their dongles to make anything work with Apple. I guess that's their strategy though.

3. The dongles are expensive enough to make you take notice, but small enough to be easily "borrowed" by coworkers and lost in the office ether. Writing your name on the dongle does little to curb this theft.

4. Switching iPhone/ iPad/ iPod plugs is terribly annoying. Just when everyone had accumulated enough of the 30 pin chargers to cover all of their bases, Apple switches to the Lightening charger and everyone is back to square one or worse, needing new chargers and adapters for existing adapters. Additional adapters lower video and sound quality which adds to the frustration.

In closing, I don't really know how to fix this problem but it's been on my mind for a while ever since a few of our dongles walked away...

-Andy

*Also.... Demo Day is on Oct. 24! RSVP here: https://smore.com/g28z