The Proliferation Of USB 3.0
During the last decade, Apple has led the way in optimizing the personal computer being the first to delete legacy equipment and replace them with new technologies or simply minimalize. On some occasions, their choice to adopt was either strategically delayed waiting for broad acceptance or in some cases never implemented e.g. Blu-ray. On the opposite extreme, they have also led the way in the proliferation of FireWire; Apple's own design and technology implemented in 1999 and found in Apple Computers since.
With the inclusion of the latest USB 3.0 ports, we can finally celebrate the new dawn of faster data transfers. Rumored to also be is a new Dock Connector that I'm guessing will take full advantage of these blazing new bus speeds. Introduced back in 2008 and the first consumer products released in 2009, it's been a long time coming with Intel releasing their first integrated chipsets earlier this year. I truly believe that we will look back and thank Apple for this as the adoption rate and proliferation of USB 3.0 peripherals will most likely sky rocket. This in part being that it costs less than the Thunderbolt equivalent and is backward compatible with USB 2.0. Consumers love the term "backwards" compatibility. Where the PC world has failed in the introduction of USB 3.0, Apple will be heralded as the usurpuer. From those million iOS users stuck syncing for hours, thank you and finally! Yes, we can say that wireless syncing is where it's at, but only because we don't have access to quick syncs and backups. The cloud is great nonetheless, but USB 3.0 will be where it's at.
The success of WWDC '12 and not to mention the intro of the MacBook Pro with Retina display, the yet-to-be-announced Fall '12 iPod / iPhone / iPad maybe iMac event couldn't come fast enough. I love Thunderbolt technology but how many hard drives and peripherals do you see out there support it compared to USB 3.0?
