I think it's a good thing, to avoid the rampant NIH-ism and vendor lock-in which seems to permeate the industry.
Sony is a good example - look at their MiniDisc fiasco (I owned several MiniDisc devices), or their MemoryStick format.
Just use a open format like SD, and stick to it.
Or look at every single phone manufacturer back in the early 2000's, that had to invent their own (usually) inferior charging standard, in some misguided hope you'd stick with them due to all the chargers you'd bought.
Or the proliferation of laptop charging standards/pins.
Guys - we're delivering power to a portable devices - it's not like we're designing the bloody ISS.
Yes, I can admire the engineering that goes into say, the Lightning adapter being reversible.
But look at all the ridiculousness of Apple's previous 30-pin connector. They could have just used USB. But then the Apple fans goes "But...but....you can't use TV out!". Yeah, well, the Samsung Galaxy II and MHL would disagree with you.
And look at their MagSafe versus MagSafe 2 connectors - they had to change their entire adapter and make it incompatible just to make it what, 2mm thinner?
And even though I don't own an iDevices, I think it's absurd that Apple charges "licensing" fees to use it's connector, and needs to add in "authentication" chips. Really?
This is as bad as inkjet manufacturers like Lexmark putting in authentication chips to their ink catridges.
Same sort of proprietary vendor lock-in nonsense.
