The full story may not be quite as straightforward.

Update December 24: the project is back on

I had contacted Apple for comment, but Apple was only able to respond today to offer its side of the story. A few minutes ago, Apple released the following statement:

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. We have been working to resolve this and have updated our guidelines to allow accessories to integrate both 30-pin and Lightning connectors to support charging.

From Apple’s perspective, it had released the Lightning spec as soon as the new connector was announced. Everything that was possible and not possible was clearly in the open in a published and freely available spec, for licensees in its hardware developer/integrator program. That happened well back on Sept. 12.

More importantly, Apple is saying that it is simply due to technical reasons — not political, economic, or strategic — that the old 30-pin connectors and the new Lightning connector could not be combined. That’s a somewhat different story than I heard from Edison Junior CEO Jamie Siminoff, who said that the group worked with Apple for months on this with inconsistent and confusing answers.

“We didn’t get a yes or a no up front,” Siminoff told me. “But as we kept going back and forth it was clear that it was getting harder.”

That’s now a he-said-she-said situation, but perhaps more importantly, in this statement Apple is announcing that it has resolved the technical challenge and has found a way to use both 30-pin and Lightning connectors on the same accessories … which means that the POP power station project could actually now continue, and build the universal charging device that Edison Junior wanted to make in the first place.

So I chatted with Siminoff today about exactly that. First, I asked him for a comment on the spec being freely available since September.

“Bullshit,” Siminoff answered. “Sure, they’ve had the spec out for a while, but there’s no way it talks about what we’re doing.”

Siminoff then confirmed with me that he and his team had multiple conversations with Apple and heard multiple stories, including that it was possibly a problem, probably OK, and that Apple was going to tighten the spec to make what Edison Junior was trying to do impossible.

Of course, it turns out Apple did the opposite: opening the spec up.

Which begs the question: Was it really a technical challenge in the first place? Just changing the spec doesn’t, after all, magically change millions of shipped devices. And no iOS system update has been issued in the past weeks with a release note specifying new compatibilities. So Siminoff doesn’t buy the “technical issues” argument at all.

“It’s pretty simple that you could build to separate power sources on the same device,” he told me this afternoon. “I don’t see how that’s a technical issue.”

Either way, however, Siminoff is happy. ”I’m thrilled that this happened,” he told me. “I think that it makes sense for the customer.” So does this mean the POP portable power station project is back on?

“Probably. Now I need to confirm between their PR and the actual MFi group that this is possible. If this is the case, for sure … if we can make the product that we promised, it’s back on,” he said. “If Apple lets us do this, we’ll make that product and we’ll make it fast.”

Whether it will be on Kickstarter or not is another question. But there’s one other piece of good news that Siminoff shared:

“We have not actually processed the refund yet … luckily!”

photo credit: unten44 via photopin cc

While only a technology journalist might be foolish enough to think that everything rumored for an Apple event is actually going to happen, there’s a lot of smoke about Tuesday.

Here are all the rumors we’re hearing about what Tim Cook might show us on Tuesday:

iPad Mini

The big kahuna, of course, is iPad Mini — potentially 16 different versions priced from $250 to $650. From 8GB to 64GB, black and white, WiFi and/or cellular.

Likelihood: extremely high. There have just been too many rumors, pictures, and whispers. And with the Microsoft Surface coming out very soon, Apple needs to give consumers a big reason to say no, even if it comes in a little package.

Refreshed full-size iPad with Lightning connector

This is a more recent rumor, but it’s both widespread and includes credible photos. There aren’t a lot of details about what it might or might not include, but the new Lightning connector is a gimme. Pricing will probably stay the same, but it’s possible that LTE could provider some faster cellular networking, and it’s possible that the retina screen will get a small update.

This would also be an opportunity for Apple to push the spec versus Microsoft’s new Surface tablets. Could we see any other upgrades?

Likelihood: high. Not due to the number or frequency of rumors, but it just seems to make sense.

Retina 13″ Macbook Pro

Half of Apple’s Macbook Pro line got the amazing new retina screen in June of this year. Now it may be time for the other half. The 13″ laptops look to be getting the same retina screen as the 15″ Pros, possibly for a $1,700 price tag. If so, Apple may also feature-bump the 13″ just a little bit.

Which would, of course, leave the Apple faithful eagerly panting for a 13″ retina Macbook Air.

Likelihood: medium. Reasonable, but definitely not guaranteed. Macbook sales have been extremely strong for Apple in the last quarter; this would juice them even more.

iBooks 3 (and other assorted software bumps)

You’re almost guaranteed to get some software updates at an Apple event, and it looks like iBooks 3 might be one of the announcements this coming week.

Likelihood: medium. It’s likely that Apple’s new iPad Mini will have a strong media, particularly reading-focused marketing message to compete with Kindles and other mid-sized tablets and e-readers. As such, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to expect some new software for said literary material …

Refreshed iMac, Mac Mini

There have been some reports of a refreshed iMac with an almost-invisibly-thin side profile, a new type of display (though probably not retina), and larger memory options. Similarly, rumors have surfaced about the Mac Mini.

Likelihood: medium. The iMac’s last update was 538 days ago, which is almost double the average time between refreshes, so a change is coming soon. And the Mac Mini was last updated 460 days ago. Whether either will be announced this week … we’ll see.

And … one more thing

Steve Jobs’ trademark — although he did not always use it — was the “one more thing” that was sometimes amazing enough to warrant an event of its own. The only items seemingly in that class would be announcements on a new Apple TV even a new Apple TV screen.

Likelihood: low. This seems to be an update event, not a shake-the-world event. And all reports on Apple’s efforts in television have it nowhere near where it needs to be yet. Wouldn’t it be fun though?

VentureBeat will be on scene live-reporting on October 23.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Apple has introduced a new connector for the iPhone 5 called Lightning, a much smaller device that will complement the Thunderbolt port on Macs in name and speed.

Lightning includes an all-digital 8-signal design, adaptive interface, more durability, and is 80 percent smaller than the current connector.

But what if you already have a ton of older connector cables lying around? Apple will offer Lightning accessories and adapters that can connect with your old connectors.

Lightning is alternately good and bad for Apple fans. On the plus side, it looks pretty cool and is much smaller and more durable. But on the downside, I have several connector cords that I’ll have to buy adapters for if I choose to get the iPhone 5.

Adapters will cost $29 or $39, depending if you want a cord attached to it. A straight-up Lightning-to-USB cable is also for sale now for $19.

Photo via The Verge