Does Apple need USB 2.0?

USB 2.0 is slowly becoming a new standard that PC hardware and peripheral makers are adopting to offer faster product performance. USB 2.0 outperforms the USB 1.1 standard used in current Macs, running up to 480 Mbits per second compared with its predecessor's 12Mbps.

So far, however, Apple has been slow to jump aboard the 2.0 bandwagon and has refused to offer a public explanation for its reticence.

"We think it would be surprising if Apple didn't adopt it at some point," said Ed Beeman, product line architect in Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Colorado Digital Imaging division in Greeley, Colo. "It's (Apple's) choice, but it sure seems like it would be in their best interest to do so."

With many PC vendors jumping on the USB 2.0 bandwagon, "there's a lot of momentum to carry it forward," he said.

Some Apple competitors told MacCentral they believe Apple's cool reception of USB 2.0 stems from its reluctance to pay larger licensing fees for its use, while others suggested Apple fears embracing USB 2.0 would raise questions about the status of FireWire.

FireWire, an Apple creation, operates at up to 400Mbps -- 30 times more bandwidth than USB 1.1 -- and has become the de facto standard in transferring video from digital cameras to computers.

But with USB 2.0 closing the gap on transfer rates, Apple is now in the difficult position of pushing USB 2.0 -- which customers will want to connect and communicate faster with printers, scanners and storage devices -- at the same time as its own FireWire technology, which is being primarily used for consumer connectivity to digital camcorders, VCRs and TVs.

"It's a tough call for Apple," said Kevin Knox of market analyst Gartner Group. "But I don't think they have much of a choice. If Apple wants to make life easier for customers to buy products that will work on both Windows-based systems and Mac, they have little choice."

Knox suggested that Apple wants to get the maximum return for its FireWire investment and see if consumer electronics makers such as Sony Corp., Canon Computer Systems Inc., Toshiba America Inc., JVC, and others continue to use FireWire in video cameras or migrate to USB 2.0.

In addition, Apple could also be waiting for the next revision of FireWire, which will double speeds to 800Mbps sometime in the next year. Knox said there is a slight chance that Apple could be holding out for faster FireWire to firm up its support for the standard, but that regardless of faster FireWire, USB 2.0 will be necessary for Apple to support third-party equipment that will ultimately migrate to the new standard.

USB advocates said they think that Apple is making a mistake by shunning USB 2.0. "I like FireWire; I like the way it works," said Darrell Redford, R&D technical evangelist at Iomega Corp. and chairperson of the USB Device Working Group. But "Apple needs to adopt USB 2.0," he said. "If companies have to decide between developing USB 2.0 products for 90 percent of the Wintel market or FireWire for Apple's 10 percent of the market, who is going to win?"

Apple's position, Redford said, is "FireWire is all that's needed. They see FireWire as high-speed and USB as low-speed."

USB 2.0's big advantage, Beeman said, is that it enables development of high-speed peripherals at a low cost. USB devices already vastly outnumber FireWire products, and he said it's relatively easy for vendors to modify USB 1.1 devices to support the new standard. "The migration path for USB 2.0 is really clean. We just roll the product to add the high-speed capability at a fairly nominal cost."

Beeman noted that Macs with the appropriate drivers will be able to use USB 2.0 peripherals, but only at USB 1.1's slower throughput. "It's unfortunate for the Mac market, but it doesn't limit connectivity or raise our product cost."

Apple Computer Inc. is apparently balking at adopting Universal Serial Bus Version 2.0, preferring to focus on its own FireWire technology for connectivity. Nevertheless, peripheral manufacturers suggest that industry adoption of USB 2.0 may compel Apple (aapl) to offer it in future Macs.

USB 2.0 is slowly becoming a new standard that PC hardware and peripheral makers are adopting to offer faster product performance. USB 2.0 outperforms the USB 1.1 standard used in current Macs, running up to 480 Mbits per second compared with its predecessor's 12Mbps.

So far, however, Apple has been slow to jump aboard the 2.0 bandwagon and has refused to offer a public explanation for its reticence.

"We think it would be surprising if Apple didn't adopt it at some point," said Ed Beeman, product line architect in Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Colorado Digital Imaging division in Greeley, Colo. "It's (Apple's) choice, but it sure seems like it would be in their best interest to do so."

With many PC vendors jumping on the USB 2.0 bandwagon, "there's a lot of momentum to carry it forward," he said.

Some Apple competitors told MacCentral they believe Apple's cool reception of USB 2.0 stems from its reluctance to pay larger licensing fees for its use, while others suggested Apple fears embracing USB 2.0 would raise questions about the status of FireWire.

FireWire, an Apple creation, operates at up to 400Mbps -- 30 times more bandwidth than USB 1.1 -- and has become the de facto standard in transferring video from digital cameras to computers.

But with USB 2.0 closing the gap on transfer rates, Apple is now in the difficult position of pushing USB 2.0 -- which customers will want to connect and communicate faster with printers, scanners and storage devices -- at the same time as its own FireWire technology, which is being primarily used for consumer connectivity to digital camcorders, VCRs and TVs.

"It's a tough call for Apple," said Kevin Knox of market analyst Gartner Group. "But I don't think they have much of a choice. If Apple wants to make life easier for customers to buy products that will work on both Windows-based systems and Mac, they have little choice."

Knox suggested that Apple wants to get the maximum return for its FireWire investment and see if consumer electronics makers such as Sony Corp., Canon Computer Systems Inc., Toshiba America Inc., JVC, and others continue to use FireWire in video cameras or migrate to USB 2.0.

In addition, Apple could also be waiting for the next revision of FireWire, which will double speeds to 800Mbps sometime in the next year. Knox said there is a slight chance that Apple could be holding out for faster FireWire to firm up its support for the standard, but that regardless of faster FireWire, USB 2.0 will be necessary for Apple to support third-party equipment that will ultimately migrate to the new standard.

USB advocates said they think that Apple is making a mistake by shunning USB 2.0. "I like FireWire; I like the way it works," said Darrell Redford, R&D technical evangelist at Iomega Corp. and chairperson of the USB Device Working Group. But "Apple needs to adopt USB 2.0," he said. "If companies have to decide between developing USB 2.0 products for 90 percent of the Wintel market or FireWire for Apple's 10 percent of the market, who is going to win?"

Apple's position, Redford said, is "FireWire is all that's needed. They see FireWire as high-speed and USB as low-speed."

USB 2.0's big advantage, Beeman said, is that it enables development of high-speed peripherals at a low cost. USB devices already vastly outnumber FireWire products, and he said it's relatively easy for vendors to modify USB 1.1 devices to support the new standard. "The migration path for USB 2.0 is really clean. We just roll the product to add the high-speed capability at a fairly nominal cost."

Beeman noted that Macs with the appropriate drivers will be able to use USB 2.0 peripherals, but only at USB 1.1's slower throughput. "It's unfortunate for the Mac market, but it doesn't limit connectivity or raise our product cost."

One company that's aggressively promoting USB 2.0 on the Mac is Orange Micro, which demonstrated several such products at Comdex/Fall 2000 and will be releasing them in February 2001. However, HP's Beeman and Robert Ozankan, Epson product manager for graphic arts and corporate scanners, agreed that the company may be jumping the gun. "They're on the cutting edge, but they're a little on the bleeding edge right now with that technology," Ozankan said.

Beeman suggested that Orange Micro's strong advocacy for USB 2.0 might motivate Apple to take a closer look at the technology. "Maybe they're a bit early -- it depends on when they start shipping -- but sometimes being early is part of making a name in the market," he said.

Orange Micro tech support manager Ed Garcia admitted that the market for USB 2.0 devices is only in its earliest development right now, but says that it's only a matter of time.

"It won't take that long for disk media companies to migrate to USB 2.0. All that will turn over very quickly," Garcia speculated. "It's devices like scanners and digital video cameras that may take longer to get implemented -- in some cases, that's a market where FireWire has already made an impact and has its advocates."

For early adopters, the secret to success may be backward compatibility. Garcia explained that Orange Micro's USB 2.0 PCI cards incorporate three separate USB controllers -- two are compliant with the slower USB 1.1 standard, and one is designed to support USB 2.0.

"You can plug in the card to a PCI expansion slot on your Power Mac and Apple's own system drivers recognize it as a USB 1.1 controller. If you install our system extension, though, then the board operates at USB 2.0 speeds -- with USB 2.0-complaint devices."

Like other vendors, Beeman said he expects a big wave of USB 2.0 peripherals in the second half of 2001. The first to appear will be hard drives, he said, because they are easily adapted to the new interface and stand to get a big performance benefit from USB 2.0's higher bandwidth. "Scanners will follow shortly, then other kinds of HP products." HP plans to offer USB 2.0 printers, he said, even though output devices tend to be limited by engine speed more than other factors.

Epson also sees summer or fall 2001 as the coming-out party for USB 2.0, according to Ozankan. "And we'll be there with USB 2.0 products," he said. However, he observed that FireWire currently offers better sustained throughput than USB 2.0. "It's not the maximum speed you can hit at once," he said. "The sustained throughput of FireWire is better for high-bandwidth devices," such as film scanners or DV camcorders.

Minolta is betting on a big push for USB 2.0 in 2002, said Mickey Iwata, who works in the manufacturer's digital photography division in Japan. "We assume USB 2.0-ready PCs will become main sales items in Christmas 2001 at the earliest," he said. Even then, he expects the new interface to appear only in higher-end machines. So the company may offer a USB 2.0-compliant digital camera in spring 2002 at the earliest, he said. "It is still under discussion."

High-speed interfaces are more important for scanners than digital cameras, he said, noting that some customers have commented on the slow USB 1.1 connection in Minolta's Dimage Scan Dual II film scanner. "We assume we should have a faster but easy-to-use interface for the future product," he said. Here, the company is considering FireWire because it's already established as a high-speed connection. "However, this does not mean we will not develop USB 2.0 compliant scanner." When USB 2.0 becomes part of the standard PC chip set and the devices become more popular, "we will launch a USB 2.0 film scanner."

Eastman-Kodak is taking a "wait-and-see" approach, according to Craig McGowan, product manager for software development at Kodak Digital & Applied Imaging. "Our position in connectivity is that we're a market follower," he said. "We're going to use the standards out there and the ones our customers ask us to support."

USB 1.1 has worked well in Kodak's still digital cameras, McGowan said. As for USB 2.0, "we're not sure what the need is right now. We're looking at it (and our) engineers are looking at it. But we're not sure if there is a burning need for us to go with the standard right now."

One factor behind Kodak's ambivalence, he said, is Apple's lack of support for USB 2.0. "If going to USB 2.0 means we'll lose our Mac customers for a negligible gain in the Windows market, we have to consider that carefully," he said. "We clearly value our Mac customers."

Mac users account for about 10 percent to 12 percent of Kodak's digital camera sales, he said, but he added that the percentage of PC users is growing. "In the past, Mac users were more likely to buy digital cameras," he said.

McGowan suggested that one solution would be to incorporate both high-speed standards into a single camera. "Our engineers haven't reported back to us on that question. We're trying to see if we can answer that." However, Iomega's Redford said manufacturers will find this option too costly.

Canon's U.S. representatives are less certain about that company's plans for USB 2.0. "Most of that decision-making is made at Canon in Tokyo," said Chuck Westfall, manager of technical information for Canon USA. "At this point, I know pretty much what the product line is going to be up until the summer time of next year, and I see nothing at all that addresses this issue."

However, he believes that Apple will be putting its "head in the sand" if it chooses to support FireWire exclusively for high-speed hardware connections. "It seems to me they'd have the option to go either way if they felt like it," he said.

Complicating matters, he said, is the likely emergence of wireless connection standards, such as Blutooth. "But I have to believe that the hard-wired solutions will be more economical, and therefore will continue to be the choice, especially on the low end of the market."

One area where USB 2.0 won't likely have an impact is input devices. For example, Wacom Technology Corp.'s graphics tablets, which use serial and USB 1.1 interfaces, "already deliver more data to the computer than software can keep up with. We truthfully don't anticipate this changing in the near future," said Wacom marketing director Scott Rawlings. "This is a non-issue for us."

Mac users account for about 40 percent of Wacom's business, so the company has little choice but to follow Apple's lead. However, other manufacturers are not so constrained, observed Larry Jamieson of Lyra Research, which tracks the digital imaging market. "A lot of companies right now are considering how important Apple is to them, and whether they want to support FireWire." He predicted that Epson and HP would support the technology because of their ties to the Mac market. "But other companies are going to think long and hard whether to do it," he said.

Epson's Ozankan noted that with USB 2.0 devices about a year away, there is still plenty of time for Apple to rethink its position. "I don't think it's anything Mac people have to worry about right now," he said. "Just something to keep their eye on."

For up-to-the-minute Mac news, check out MacCentral.com. One company that's aggressively promoting USB 2.0 on the Mac is Orange Micro, which demonstrated several such products at Comdex/Fall 2000 and will be releasing them in February 2001. However, HP's Beeman and Robert Ozankan, Epson product manager for graphic arts and corporate scanners, agreed that the company may be jumping the gun. "They're on the cutting edge, but they're a little on the bleeding edge right now with that technology," Ozankan said.

Beeman suggested that Orange Micro's strong advocacy for USB 2.0 might motivate Apple to take a closer look at the technology. "Maybe they're a bit early -- it depends on when they start shipping -- but sometimes being early is part of making a name in the market," he said.

Orange Micro tech support manager Ed Garcia admitted that the market for USB 2.0 devices is only in its earliest development right now, but says that it's only a matter of time.

"It won't take that long for disk media companies to migrate to USB 2.0. All that will turn over very quickly," Garcia speculated. "It's devices like scanners and digital video cameras that may take longer to get implemented -- in some cases, that's a market where FireWire has already made an impact and has its advocates."

For early adopters, the secret to success may be backward compatibility. Garcia explained that Orange Micro's USB 2.0 PCI cards incorporate three separate USB controllers -- two are compliant with the slower USB 1.1 standard, and one is designed to support USB 2.0.

"You can plug in the card to a PCI expansion slot on your Power Mac and Apple's own system drivers recognize it as a USB 1.1 controller. If you install our system extension, though, then the board operates at USB 2.0 speeds -- with USB 2.0-complaint devices."

Like other vendors, Beeman said he expects a big wave of USB 2.0 peripherals in the second half of 2001. The first to appear will be hard drives, he said, because they are easily adapted to the new interface and stand to get a big performance benefit from USB 2.0's higher bandwidth. "Scanners will follow shortly, then other kinds of HP products." HP plans to offer USB 2.0 printers, he said, even though output devices tend to be limited by engine speed more than other factors.

Epson also sees summer or fall 2001 as the coming-out party for USB 2.0, according to Ozankan. "And we'll be there with USB 2.0 products," he said. However, he observed that FireWire currently offers better sustained throughput than USB 2.0. "It's not the maximum speed you can hit at once," he said. "The sustained throughput of FireWire is better for high-bandwidth devices," such as film scanners or DV camcorders.

Minolta is betting on a big push for USB 2.0 in 2002, said Mickey Iwata, who works in the manufacturer's digital photography division in Japan. "We assume USB 2.0-ready PCs will become main sales items in Christmas 2001 at the earliest," he said. Even then, he expects the new interface to appear only in higher-end machines. So the company may offer a USB 2.0-compliant digital camera in spring 2002 at the earliest, he said. "It is still under discussion."

High-speed interfaces are more important for scanners than digital cameras, he said, noting that some customers have commented on the slow USB 1.1 connection in Minolta's Dimage Scan Dual II film scanner. "We assume we should have a faster but easy-to-use interface for the future product," he said. Here, the company is considering FireWire because it's already established as a high-speed connection. "However, this does not mean we will not develop USB 2.0 compliant scanner." When USB 2.0 becomes part of the standard PC chip set and the devices become more popular, "we will launch a USB 2.0 film scanner."

Eastman-Kodak is taking a "wait-and-see" approach, according to Craig McGowan, product manager for software development at Kodak Digital & Applied Imaging. "Our position in connectivity is that we're a market follower," he said. "We're going to use the standards out there and the ones our customers ask us to support."

USB 1.1 has worked well in Kodak's still digital cameras, McGowan said. As for USB 2.0, "we're not sure what the need is right now. We're looking at it (and our) engineers are looking at it. But we're not sure if there is a burning need for us to go with the standard right now."

One factor behind Kodak's ambivalence, he said, is Apple's lack of support for USB 2.0. "If going to USB 2.0 means we'll lose our Mac customers for a negligible gain in the Windows market, we have to consider that carefully," he said. "We clearly value our Mac customers."

Mac users account for about 10 percent to 12 percent of Kodak's digital camera sales, he said, but he added that the percentage of PC users is growing. "In the past, Mac users were more likely to buy digital cameras," he said.

McGowan suggested that one solution would be to incorporate both high-speed standards into a single camera. "Our engineers haven't reported back to us on that question. We're trying to see if we can answer that." However, Iomega's Redford said manufacturers will find this option too costly.

Canon's U.S. representatives are less certain about that company's plans for USB 2.0. "Most of that decision-making is made at Canon in Tokyo," said Chuck Westfall, manager of technical information for Canon USA. "At this point, I know pretty much what the product line is going to be up until the summer time of next year, and I see nothing at all that addresses this issue."

However, he believes that Apple will be putting its "head in the sand" if it chooses to support FireWire exclusively for high-speed hardware connections. "It seems to me they'd have the option to go either way if they felt like it," he said.

Complicating matters, he said, is the likely emergence of wireless connection standards, such as Blutooth. "But I have to believe that the hard-wired solutions will be more economical, and therefore will continue to be the choice, especially on the low end of the market."

One area where USB 2.0 won't likely have an impact is input devices. For example, Wacom Technology Corp.'s graphics tablets, which use serial and USB 1.1 interfaces, "already deliver more data to the computer than software can keep up with. We truthfully don't anticipate this changing in the near future," said Wacom marketing director Scott Rawlings. "This is a non-issue for us."

Mac users account for about 40 percent of Wacom's business, so the company has little choice but to follow Apple's lead. However, other manufacturers are not so constrained, observed Larry Jamieson of Lyra Research, which tracks the digital imaging market. "A lot of companies right now are considering how important Apple is to them, and whether they want to support FireWire." He predicted that Epson and HP would support the technology because of their ties to the Mac market. "But other companies are going to think long and hard whether to do it," he said.

Epson's Ozankan noted that with USB 2.0 devices about a year away, there is still plenty of time for Apple to rethink its position. "I don't think it's anything Mac people have to worry about right now," he said. "Just something to keep their eye on."

For up-to-the-minute Mac news, check out MacCentral.com.