March 21st, 2006
More on the mysterious MagSafe connector
I mentioned in my posting yesterday that Apple’s new MagSafe power connector is both an asset and a liability.
There was a piece on the Japanese Mac Treasure Tracing Club Web site on 26 February 2006 that stated "Because Apple acquired a patent for MagSafe, third party manufacturers cannot sell an adapter with with such a connector." It also goes on to say that Apple is not going to give permission to do so.
Ironically the breakaway power cord standard was developed years ago by Underwriters Laboratories for use on chocolate fondue fountains and countertop deep fryers.
I think that there’s a good chance that Apple may "bless" a particular manufacturer with the rights to make a MagSafe car/airline adapter at some point (as they have done with Griffin Technologies and other third party developers on iPod projects in the past). A potential candidate could be Kensington as they make a 120W adapter for notebooks now.
I’m even more interested to see if the upcoming consumer "MacBook" will share the same giant brick as the MacBook Pro.
So how many extra 85W MagSafe power adapters and MBP batteries did you buy?
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
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