Apple’s Latest Bestseller: Dongles.

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At RadioShack, we often would try to guess what people came there to buy. As I was working there during the late 2000’s, it was often an HDTV converter, batteries, or a phone (a burner, half of the time). It would be a fun game for the employees to pass the time, as business at RadioShack was, sadly, quite slow. One of the employees who had been there for a few years was never wrong about those looking for batteries. It was eerie.

Best Buy employees might play a similar game, but it’s a bit easier if you’re there to buy an Apple product. Are you going to buy an iPhone, an iPad, or a new MacBook? If the employees are gambling, they’d place their money on the smart bet: a dongle. You know, an adapter, a short cable between your device and another cable, a dongle. Because, as it turns out, most people who buy an Apple product at Best Buy are buying a dongle.

Is this what we’ve become? A new nickname for Apple users: donglers.

Apple: Company of Dongles

Apple products have become known for one key design decision: dongles. The new MacBook Pro has 5 ports. 4 of them are Thunderbolt 3/USB-C, the other one is a headphone jack. The MacBook has a single USB-C port and a headphone jack. It’s surprising that Apple kept the headphone jack on these devices, as iPhones ditched the headphone jack, and only have one port: a Lightning port. iPads currently have a headphone jack still, but might not after this fall.

If you want to use wired headphones with your iPhone, you’ll need a dongle. If you want to do just about anything with your MacBook Pro, from use a camera, connect to wired internet, connect to a display, or use a USB thumb drive, you’ll need a dongle. Apple users have become accustomed to needing dongles or being creative with their connection choices. Apple’s pushing us to a wireless future, forgetting that most third parties aren’t there yet, and many people still need wired connections.

I Want to Use my Device Now!

Full disclosure, I just got a new 2018 MacBook Pro. I’ll have a review of it shortly. My MacBook Pro arrived before the Hyperdrive adapter I ordered (weeks ago, but more on that in the speparate Hyperdrive review). Still, I had foreseen a potential issue, and ordered a USB-C to USB-A adapter alongside my MacBook Pro. I’ve used this with a USB hub to connect things like my mouse, keyboard, iPhone, external drives, and other devices. I figured I wouldn’t need a monitor cable, as my monitor had a USB-C port. All I’d need was a USB-C to USB-C cable, which the MacBook Pro comes with in the box! What Apple doesn’t tell you is that this cable is only useful for one thing: powering your device. It can’t be used for video. Now I needed a cable, and I needed it now.

The urgency I felt isn’t uncommon. I went into this prepared. I had already swapped out my external FireWire drives for USB-C enclosures, I ordered the HyperDrive before I ordered my MacBook Pro, and I had USB-C to USB-A adapters already. Still, Apple caught me off-guard. My brand new MacBook Pro wasn’t what I wanted it to be. Even after spending thousands of dollars, I had a new feeling, one I haven’t felt after buying an Apple product for a long time: anxiety and instant dissatisfaction.

The Heroism of Brick and Mortar

What do you do when you’re holding a new product, one you’ve already sunk a significant amount of your money into, and it’s not working as expected? You rush out to buy what you need to get it working, of course! Fortunately, I was in no rush to get my monitors hooked up, so I shopped around and found something I liked on Amazon. Then I paid extra to have it shipped overnight to me, because even if I’m not in a rush, I’m still not a patient person.

But if I needed those adapters now, I would have hopped on a train headed to my local electronics store. Those in less densely populated areas might take a short jaunt in their car to a store. Even with Amazon’s next day or same day delivery, few online buying options beat the speed of going to a store yourself and grabbing something. That’s why, while Apple users are buying their Macs and iPhones online from Apple, they’re rushing to Best Buys to get their accessories.

Everyone (But You) Wins!

Taking you back to my time at RadioShack, I learned a very important thing: always sell the accessories. Our commissions increased significantly when we sold accessories alongside other major purchases. Why? For retail stores, the profit margins on electronics are very small. The manufacturer gets most of that. However, accessories are cheaply made and sold at inflated prices, especially Apple accessories. While Apple may make accessories of a high quality, items like their cables are still very cheaply made. There’s a fortune hiding in those dongles.

Sure, when you buy a new MacBook, there may be $300 in hidden dongle pricing tacked on to the price of your computer. Dongles for your headphones range from $9 to $200, for some really good setups. But instead of being selfish and thinking only of your own bank account, think of the companies like Best Buy and Apple that you’re helping to support! Maybe if Apple had decided to inflict the dongle life on us earlier, RadioShack would still exist.

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Source: Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac