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Kickstarter campaign offers ‘Magsafe for iPhone’ (history says Apple lawsuit incoming)

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The main product offered on this Kickstarter campaign is just another powered case (albeit a pretty-looking one) – but it was the ‘Magsafe for iPhone’ adapter three-quarters of the way down the page that caught my eye.

Plug in a slim adapter to the Lightning socket of your iPhone, plug in an adapter to your Lightning cable and you have the equivalent of a MagSafe connection on your phone.

It’s a neat idea, but sadly not one that is likely to survive scrutiny by Apple’s lawyers – at least, not using ‘MagSafe for iPhone’ as the description. Battery company Hyper, which makes external batteries for MacBooks and iPads, learned this the hard way when it offered MagSafe connectors. Apple’s lawyers sued, and forced the company to go via an airplane power adapter instead.

Without the description, however, it might survive. You can pledge $25 for the two-part adapter kit, with estimated delivery in November. The campaign currently has just over $6,000 pledged of its $50k target, with 43 days to go.

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Comments

  1. rgbfoundry - 10 years ago

    Great idea. I don’t think Apple should fight this. On what grounds could they?

    • Joe - 10 years ago

      Using Apple’s trademarked “MagSafe” to describe their own product could make customers think that Apple made this product. You can’t call your own product MagSafe because Apple owns it. They would have to use another term.

      • rgbfoundry - 10 years ago

        They call their products “MagAdaptor” and “MicroAdaptor”. They use the expression “‘Magsafe'” for iPhone” to convey the idea behind their adaptors, but I don’t think that’s illegal in any country. They never say “MagSafe” in their videos, and the word MagSafe is only used in the text of the campaign to explain how it works through comparison.

      • Ben Lovejoy - 10 years ago

        It’s a use of the trademark I think is unlikely to last long, but we shall see. :-) It does seem like a neat idea, though, so I hope the product makes it.

      • rgbfoundry - 10 years ago

        There’s been no action against this company for copyright infringement. Apple even supports the widget that uses “MagSafe in its name. http://magsafecounter.blogspot.com/

      • Ben Lovejoy - 10 years ago

        It’s a trademark rather than copyrighted. The usage you point to should be fine.

    • Ben Lovejoy - 10 years ago

      Use of the MagSafe trademark for sure. It may also claim that its patent covers all magnetic power attachments.

      • Sony’s Z phones and tablets all have magnetic power adapters

      • Ben Lovejoy - 10 years ago

        Interesting, thanks – been a while since I’ve looked at one

      • erictheactor - 10 years ago

        Agree! It’s a bad idea anyway… It’ll come off with all of the phone movement. It works great for laptop because it’s sits stationary.

      • As for the name though.. Not a very good idea

      • Air Burt - 10 years ago

        Pretty sure they’ve talked about the licensing issue. I don’t think Apple would have a problem if these guys come to them and say “we’ll pay you X dollars so we can use this”. That’s how the patent licensing system is supposed to work!

    • Allen Newman (@AGNewman) - 10 years ago

      It’s not just the trademark. Apple invented the MagSafe connector, no matter what name you call it, and its patent probably give it exclusivity till sometime in the 2020s.

      • Cemal Samsilova - 10 years ago

        They didn’t mention anything about MFI approval which apple needs to give consent to use their 8 pin adaptors under their license.

    • Computer_Whiz123 - 10 years ago

      well it is VERY similar to the connection on most/all macbook pros and air’s…

  2. mpias3785 - 10 years ago

    If history is any indication, this product will be over-hyped, fantastically overpriced and will underperform. That’s been Hyper’s MO for as long as I can remember.

    That being said, a magsafe version of lightning would be a pretty neat idea. Now I’ll check out the site and see if I have to eat my words.

    • mpias3785 - 10 years ago

      Well the micro adapter and mag adapter for $25 doesn’t seem too bad. Unfortunately it would put a serious crimp in the cases I could use.

      I’m a case user so docks have never entered into the equation.

      The cabin looks nice, but provides no front, side or top protection, and as far as I can see, doesn’t connect to the iPhone all that securely. It also seems to block the speaker and microphone ports. The 2200 mAh capacity is nothing to get excited over since batteries with 4-6 times that capacity can be had for under 40 bucks. They don’t attach to the back, but they don’t interfere with the speaker, microphone or limit your choice of case either.

      I’ll pass.

  3. nonyabiness - 10 years ago

    Rambo is on the team of engineers! I’m in!!!!

  4. zoidbert - 10 years ago

    I was just talking about this to a friend recently; I think Apple probably considered something like this, but it would’ve added too much cost to the standard design.

  5. Cemal Samsilova - 10 years ago

    From my experience when we created revocharge we had to get initial MFI approval to use their power adapters (8 Pin) and not sure how these folks will get through apple’s certification process which is very tough. Otherwise this product will not work with IOS7 and above.

    • rgbfoundry - 10 years ago

      Didn’t you notice the nationality of the staff in the video? I’m pretty sure they can thumb their nose at any MFI rules. They’re operating in the land of clones and knock-offs. Those unauthorized thunderbolt and lightning cables come from somewhere.

  6. Howie Isaacks - 10 years ago

    I would buy one of these… maybe two… or three. Frankly, Apple should have done this from the start.

  7. chrisl84 - 10 years ago

    I’d love to see Apple make their own Lighting to Magsafe adapter.

    • rgbfoundry - 10 years ago

      I’d love to see their $59.99 price on someone else’s idea.

      • chrisl84 - 10 years ago

        “I’d love to see their approach actually work properly” fixed it for you…

  8. Think this is ok idea, but agree very iikely Apple will kill it in the courts. For me a much more interesting idea would be a mag connector for 30 pin dock. I have a couple of docks, but also a hard wired car kit that fitted for my iPhone 4. Have to use the stupid Apple adapter that feels like the lightning plug is going to snap off in the phone.

  9. Can anyone enlighten me why I need two $25 separate adapter parts to an already working system?

    The Magsafe adapter won’t be usable to charge your macbook and the thing that goes in the phone is really only a gimmick. No sale for me…

  10. Stephan Wagner - 10 years ago

    I think they also would need to get a license from Apple to sell the product. And I’m not sure they will get it as I could imagine Apple is working on a MagSave for iPhone / iPad itself. The idea about a MagSafe for iPhone is not new, i’ve seen it in several design concepts before.
    And a MagSafe for an iPhone is so awesome, that if you could get in in production with only 50k $, someone would have done it before, this would sell like hell!

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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