The article explains how micro-usb connectors can be used to connect to both HDMI and display-port. And obviously USB2 can be connected to USB3. All the article is saying is that Lightning could be used to transport USB3, even with only 8 wires.
So the only advantages for lightning are that it's reversible, and it makes Apple scads of money.
Did you even bother to read the article ? The advantage of Lightning is that it is a REAL future proof connector. Completely generic and separate from any current standard. A connector that could still be in use 10-20+ years from now.
And the fact you brought up the money argument just shows you have no idea what it is going on.
I think the money is an important aspect because Apple uses patents on connectors to extract more money out of their users. The perennial favorite is the Magsafe power adapter connector but realistically ever since that connector Apple has gone out of its way to create a patent wall around their cables. I'm sure they justify this by saying it allows them to control the user experience, after all a shoddy cable really sucks, but its not clear that if you gave people the choice they would choose $29 'reliable' cables over $2.99 'might break' cables.
Apple has been pretty aggressive about patenting their connector designs [1]. So sarcastically I'd say this could be in use exactly 20 years from now :-)
One problem with a $2.99 cable isn't that it "might break," it's that it might zap you with a "potentially-lethal 340 volts" among other less severe but still significant drawbacks (which most people wouldn't ever consider).
It's one thing with chargers, and another with cables. Apple's cables are actually worse quality than the cheap ones IMHO, since putting a proper strain relief on the cable violates Apple's design sensibilities.
I almost gottend zapped by one magsafe connector, and almost had another one cause a fire due to this. Apple of course insisted this was not their fault, until the next replacement charger "magically" had a 2-3 times as long strain relief.
You could just as easily get zapped with a "potentially-lethal 340 volts" with Apple's cables. Notice how that fake charger has a USB port to allow you to connect your existing iPod or iPhone charger cable to it, including a genuine Apple cable.
(I suspect that the chargers with integrated micro-USB cable are, for the most part, quite a bit safer due to not imitating Apple and having plenty of space. I actually took a dirt-cheap Chinese 5V supply apart a while ago because it had died - proper controller chip and all the works, good half-centimeter of isolation between high and low voltage, slot in the PCB along the part of the isolation boundary where they're closest, etc.)
I very much doubt having a "real future proof connector" is going to make any practical difference for most users.
Having to have different cables from pretty much everyone else, on the other hand, will.
In my house there are at least a dozen microUSB cables. There's 2-3 Apple cables. That reflects the relative ratio of devices that use each, and it means charging or connecting anything that requires microUSB is trivial - there's always a cable at hand. There's half a dozen microUSB cables within a one metre radius of where I'm sitting at my desk right now.
Won't matter if you're at home and have a nice collection of Apple specific cables. But it is likely to make far more difference for people when they're out travelling for example.
Having a "future proof" connector? Not going to matter for anything but a tiny sliver of early adopters who might otherwise need adapters now and again (e.g. MHL adapters for micoUSB now, that are quickly becoming obsolete as TV's etc. start getting MHL support built in)
Well if 30pin was as future proof, then in theory we would not have a problem with angry people with lots of old accessories right now. And if it as good as they say, then if tomorrow HDMI is totally doomed and there's shiny new HDMI2 standard completely different from HDMI, I will not have to change the phone, apple just needs to release a new cable and possibly software update.
You mean the article that explains how microUSB has become compatible with new standards or the article that explains how Lightning could become compatible with new standards?
It seems to me that having done something twice in the past is a better proof of being able to do that something than speculation is.
From the article
"Common to both MHL and MyDP is the need for an additional transmitter (driver) chip as well as a switcher chip that goes back and forth between that and the USB transceivers. This, of course, implies additional space on the device board for these chips, traces and passive components, as well as increased power consumption. You can, of course, put in a micro-HDMI connector and drive that directly, that would save neither space nor power."
That's not microUSB becoming compatible - It's having to add hardware inside the device which makes use of microUSB's pins. The Lightning connector seems to push that to outside of the device i.e. make the right cable/adapter and software and you can adapt to anything without requiring support from specific hardware inside the device. At least that is what he seems to saying and it'll probably take some more analysis and dissection (not to mention actual adapters) to support that assertion.
If you're a company working at the scale Apple does I don't think there's anything stopping from integrating the driver and switching hardware for MHL onto your main SoC.
microUSB hasn't become compatible with new standards, it has been hacked to allow the pinouts to be repurposed for new standards.
The implication of this article is that the Lightening port can be repurposed, without changes to the device's hardware, simply by providing a new cable and software.
If the iPhone5 doesn't have internal USB3 or HDMI or DP support, it can't magically gain it through the use of a new cable and new software. It's probable the iPhone6 will support all or most of those, but that's because they changed the device's hardware...
