Steve Jobs: No USB 3 any time soon

By on Oct 30, 2010 at 7:20 PM
General October 30, 2010

Apple has a mixed record when it comes to adopting industry standards. For example, the company was the first OEM to install USB and Firewire on its desktop machines but has yet to include HDMI connectivity in its laptop line; the recently refreshed Mac Mini line were the first Apple products to sport an HDMI output. Now, Mr. Jobs has provided us with his two cents in an email response to a request for Apple to adopt USB 3.0:

We don’t see USB 3 taking off at this time. No support from Intel,  for example.

The optimist in you might be hoping that Apple is holding off in favor of Intel’s upcoming Light Peak technology. Light Peak will feature an optical cable with a bandwidth of 10Gb/s (that’s gigabits) and will be a universal replacement for SCSI, SATA, USB, FireWire, PCI Express and HDMI. Are we hoping for too much?

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  • Tom Donoitz

    Thought I saw this from another site.

  • Mike G

    Wasn’t the Mac Mini the first to sport HDMI out from the Apple product line?

    • http://wesleyk.me Wesley K

      Good thinking the Mac mini did have HDMi first.

    • Lechero

      Maybe.

    • Chad

      No, the original apple tv, unless you consider anything with mini-DVI to HDMI adapter

      • Chris

        mini-DVI to HDMI doesn’t carry audio though.

        HDMI on their laptops wouldn’t make sense as it can’t drive the resolution of their Cinema Displays

  • Len

    Steve Jobs…enough said! hahahahaha

  • Jose Canseco

    You don’t need USB on steroids. Everything is moving towards the cloud anyways.

    • Mitch

      I don’t want my f-cking data in a “Cloud”.

  • Crunch

    That’s too bad but I can’t say I’m surprised. (see: Bluray, Flash, eSATA)

  • Albk

    Most Macs have long had HDMI support, they just don’t have a physical HDM I jack. And until recently, they didn’t’ support audio output through the HDMI interface (available through Mini DisplayPort, and DVI before that)

    HDMI is just DVI video with audio and provision for DRM.

  • JMo

    Why would they for HDMI???…do you know how much money Apple makes just off of dongles alone?!….hell I wouldn’t either…as far as the 3.0 I dunno.

  • jj

    Uhh Steve Blows….

  • jarrod lilly

    This new technology from intel sounds amazing. Guess ill hold on to my p6t deluxe for another year. Thanks!

  • Rudy

    I honestly think apple Gets the most outta the hardware they DO use but do the bare minimum when it does come to hardware and tells us how awesome it is

  • ohmy

    when will lightpeak be universally adapted??
    2?4 years away?

  • RAS

    How many computers now have USB 3.0?

  • Blah

    I’m no probate lawyer from Manhattan, but I am in retail electronics.
    The stores in my area don’t carry USB 3.0 flash drives.
    3.0 is not catching on. People Never even ask about it / for it. Only geeks even knows it exists.
    Apple is right in not wasting money on it right now.
    How often do you honestly use a flash drive?
    I could understand people being “upset” if you used a flash drive EVERY single day (and was transferring Really Large files) for some odd reason.
    Most people do not.
    I checked bestbuy web site to see if you could search for a computer using USB 3.0 as a Feature. You can narrow down which ones are Energy Star rated, backlit keyboards, HDMI, but USB 3.0 is not a feature.
    The $1200 Asus “premium” laptop and the $2200 AlienWare Area-51 desktop does NOT have USB 3.0
    That should tell you something about USB 3.0

    • hgcowner

      are you retarded?

      Asus Netbooks have HDMI AND USB3

      yes NETBOOKS

      Asus N61 that came out early this year has USB3
      the Asus G53JW gaming notebook has USB3
      Asus 1215N has USB3
      Asus 1015PN has USB 3 and HDMI

      most new HP elitebooks have 2x usb 3 ports (although they name them USB Super speed and not USB3)

      • Blah

        USB3 on a netbook is a waste, they are already so dam slow you most likely wouldn’t notice.
        And go to bestbuy.com, look at the dam Alienware M15X laptop that is $2000. It does NOT have USB3.0
        I can cherry pick PC’s here and there that have it, my point was, it’s new, it’s NOT mainstream yet, and most likely never will be.
        People “want” 3.0 because they “think” they want it. Most who “want” it use a Flash drive twice a year like I do.
        And why do I have to be retarded because I pointed out that nearly NO computer at bestbuy ( you know, that place where about 90% of PC’s are sold ) has USB3 nor is it listed as a feature. I can go thru newegg and list all the MB’s there that have usb3 as well.
        Geeks and general public are two different things, and most of you BGR followers are PC anyways, so why would you care what Apple does or doesn’t support?
        It’s not like you planned to ever buy an apple computer anyways. most likely couldn’t afford it if you did. Go buy a netbook with USB 3 and HDMI and shut up.

      • Mudblood

        Harsh reply, but still. What we need USB 3.0 is for speed in transferring big blocks of data, which is… media data? Why not to have it in TV then?
        The thing is, while your CPU+Motherboard is unable to handle such a speed, it won’t make any difference.

        Yet, I dislike the Apple for this. If I finally need this technology, I am to buy a new computer.

      • Dara

        lol….

        Bestbuy, where 90% of computers are sold.

        The reason why you’d buy a computer with USB 3.0 and Sata 3.0 is to make it future-proof.

        Of course, it’s not even close to an issue for PC buyers. An ASUS card with both USB3 and SATA3 costs $25, so it can be added to any computer whenever you need it.

        Except for Macs, because opening computer cases, sticking a card in a slot, and loading drivers is unintuitive. It’s much more elegant if you just buy a new one.

  • E-Man

    @Blah – it took sometime before USB 2.0 went mainstream. Speed is great when transferring large files and why not get it now? It’s just like saying why do I need USB 2.0 when I have 1.0? It sure beats buying a card a year from now. My motherboard has two USB 3.0 ports and cost me $130.

    Apple does not support because intel doesn’t, yet.

  • Apocalypse

    and in other news from appleland the world is still flat.

  • StevenHamburg

    usb 3.0 was DOA. people are able to upload larger and larger files to the cloud every day, at faster and faster speeds. usb 3.0 should’ve been released 2 years ago if they wanted to see adoption.

  • Steve Jobs

    This is not the USB you are looking for

  • http://vitamincm.com Christopher Masiello

    If Steve Jobs bashes something it means only one thing:
    They will be releasing it next week.

  • Obj_me

    I think lightpeak is or at least should be the future. If it is in fact able to replace all of the listed standards that would be absolutely awesome and honestly 2-4 years out isn’t too bad. I get the whole notion of USB 3 but the fact is if you have big names like intel and apple behind lightpeak(and there certainly will be more to come) USB 3.0 will quickly become irrelevant. Picture this; all future intel boards contain lightpeak and intel build support for lightpeak into their chipsets. Soon other manufacturers will follow suit with their motherboards and peripherals. If more big players get on board LightPeak is inevitable and USB will soon exist for legacy purposes, much like parallel and serial ports. As a geek USB 3 is intriguing and nice but without widespread industry support and the immanent adoption of LP it’s almost pointless for OEMs to spend the money on something that will more than likely very short lived. I mean seriously while us geeks like to think we matter as far as tech trends go we don’t! The everyday consumer is much more important and as it stands now USB 2.0 and eSATA will suffice. LP will be more usable by the mainstream as it will eliminate the need for other technologies like HDMI, USB, eSATA, etc. therefore reducing the need for the knowledge of these various techs, reducing the types of cables necessary and ultimately driving down costs. Say what you will about Jobs & Co., IMHO this is the right move /if/ in fact this is the path they will take. Jobs is not only an extremely savvy CEO but also has a great eye for what will catch on…

  • dave

    Herr Jobs also thinks that Blu ray is a “big bag of hurt”. what an ass-clown.

  • Gag

    On the one hand, with the premium that you pay for Apple products, USB 3.0 should be a no brainer. It’s flat out better than USB 2.0 and allows for faster data transfer. On the other, we are only now starting to see a very small trickle of USB 3.0 products and Intel really hasn’t done enough to get behind it.

    Maybe next year, Steve will change his mind. I mean it would help to have a giant ecosystem of USB 3.0 reliant products driving hardware manufacturers to include the darn ports right?

    I don’t really see why this has to be a battle of adopting standards. Apple was avant-garde with adopting other standards and to see them drag their feet on USB 3.0, Bluetooth 3.0 and Blu Ray/3D Blu Ray is extremely disappointing. Especially when they release toys like the MacBook Air, assuming people don’t need optical drives anymore. They make some damn good products but they are incredibly myopic at times. Sometimes, they’re right, like with HTML 5. And clearly, sometimes, they are wrong, and will have to learn the hard way.

  • FanBoyCawkRawk

    Overall… it’s not like USB3 tech is expensive… it’s pretty cheap AND backwards compatible. Not having USB3 is like saying you won’t add a DVD burner because people don’t burn CDs.

    Even if there is a lack of support… so?? People STILL need USB for now anyway, even if its 2.0 or 1.1, so there’s no loss there.

  • Tmhale13

    It sure sounds like a lot of you are simply hating just to be hating. The quote actually says “at this time”. That does not mean Apple has decided never to include 3.0. That means they do not see the big rush to jump in when their CPU partner (Intel) has not even adopted it yet. With little support from Intel, 3.0 would be a waste. If…IF…Intel gets on board, and IF 3.0 starts gaining popularity, Apple will look at incorporating it into a future product refresh.

    And, just a side note (since a few people brought it up), Apple decided against Blu-Ray because they see the “cloud” as the future of storage AND media distribution. For further evidence of this belief, see the completely “optical-drive-less” MacBook Air line. Apple was actually an early proponent of Blu-Ray. They were behind it 100% until they decided the “cloud” was where computing was headed. While I would welcome a Blu-Ray drive on my MacBook Pro, I am not upset at it’s absence since I knew up front not to expect it. Heck, nearly every Blu-Ray movie I buy has a digital copy included anyway. And that is the only need I have for Blu-Ray…movies.

    • sirpaul

      “At this time” there are already USB hard drives people want to use.

  • http://twitter.com/MattSTKC Matthew H.

    of course the makers of the “jesus” phone are waiting for the jesus cable. Simplicity is the key to any Apple design. Makes sense they’d wait for tech that would replace most ports. Hopefully it pans out like it should. I for one am sick of 5+ kinds of cables.

  • Steven Glansberg

    Jeve Stobs hates black people.

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