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End of the Line for Apple's FireWire

by: Joel West October 15, 2008 | about stocks: AAPL / INTC / SNE    

Joel West

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Editor's note: See correction and update to this post.

One of Apple’s (AAPL) few really important inventions during the 1990s was FireWire. It was a high speed, hot-pluggable external bus that supported digital cameras, hard disks, and even peer to peer networking.

FireWire was particularly well suited for downloading gigabytes of digital video from a camcorder to a laptop, even though that required a different connector at the camera side. Longtime Mac users also know that Target Disk Mode (allowing access to a laptop HDD as though it were an external HDD) was one of its best system management features.

However, to make money, Apple extracted a $1 per port while Intel was practically giving away USB. In 1999, Apple and its IEEE 1394 partners created a patent pool and cut their licensing fees dramatically to $.25 per device. But it seems like it was too little, too late, as USB 2.0 was just around the corner.

Due to clever marketing by Intel (INTC), a few people actually think USB 2.0 is faster than FIreWire 400, even though benchmarks show that it’s not true (due to bus contention, etc.). Apple and its allies released the faster FireWire 800, but (unlike USB 2.0) the connectors are incompatible and by the time it came out, almost nobody cared.

Today, FireWire is officially at the end of the line: Apple released its new laptops without FireWire, except in the largest model. When combined with the lack of FireWire in the MacBook Air, this marks the end of FireWire as a tool allowing Mac users to edit digital video or restore their laptop drives (let alone have a speedy external hard drive). Apple has apparently concluded this is a niche market to be ceded to Sony (SNE) and others.

FireWire could have been a contender. It’s not clear if it had been created during the Jobs (or Jobs II) era if it would have been better managed — forestalling the threat from USB 2.0 — or Apple would have killed it even quicker based on a more extortionate licensing scheme.

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This article has 15 comments:

  •  
    Oct 15 09:44 AM
    "Apple has apparently concluded this is a niche market to be ceded to Sony (SNE) and others."

    While possible, seriously doubtful. Firewire 800 is still essential for video professionals, and there does not seem to be a universally viable replacement currently in the wings. I seriously doubt Apple would kiss off this market segment - which was responsible for its own "halo" effect in Apple's growth.

    Apple has always differentiated between its higher and lower end offerings - which is why certain modules of the FCP suite (like Motion) were not officially supported on the basic Macbooks or the Mac mini. Leaving Firewire 800 in the 17" models, but dropping it from the new offerings may be their way of maintaining this separation.
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 15 10:04 AM
    Ouch! I guess I'm not getting one of THOSE laptops.
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 15 10:10 AM
    Wrong again.

    Apple has maintained Firewire in its most important lineups ... the 15 inch and 17 inch laptops. MacBook Air has never had Firewire. It not showing up in the 13 inch laptops is reasonable, as those people don't demand it and it gives the other models more differentiation room.

    The 800 Firewire is fully backward compatible with 400 with a simple connector ... no problem.

    More lightweight, meaningless palaver from this guy.
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 15 11:35 AM
    On my current iBook you can only do a startup from an external disk if it is FireWire. I wonder if you can do startup from USB disks with the new 13 inch MacBooks. If not, that would screw up my backup setup.

    Not having FireWire is bothersome.
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 15 10:14 PM
    captainccs,

    Yes, you can boot Intel Macs from USB hard drives.

    Bot
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 16 12:02 AM
    The author here is clearly missing the point. Apple DID include Firewire 800 ports on TWO new models of its MacBook Pro line (add to that the 17" MacBook Pro, which remains a current model), and did not include it on the TWO new models of MacBooks, nor on the MacBook Air. There is simply a distinction of the need for this connectivity that Apple has acknowledged. People doing video editing and other ventures where Firewire transfer has advantages will likely not be using the less expensive, less capable, lower video level laptops. Death of Firewire?.... that's poppycock and sensationalism. It's just in recognition of the differences between the uses of various levels of machines.
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 16 12:41 AM
    Firewire is well entrenched and is increasing in speed. I'll speculate that Apple didn't include FW on the low end models as a way to differentiate them from the higher end products. Just as their is no matte display version of the iMac as a way to make it less attractive to professional users.
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 16 08:48 AM
    I agree that this headline is sensational and the article is misleading. The MBP still has Firewire. It appears that Apple removed Firewire from the MB line because there was no physical room left on the left side of the logic board to accommodate the extra port. It is very bothersome that Apple removed it. Apple's choice of including USB as the only major peripheral bus on the original iMac (when Firewire could have been included as well) was instrumental in my mind in feeding the USB monster. I would never consider buying in modern times a computer with int-degraded graphics as the MacBook has, and this is one more strike against the line.
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 16 10:09 AM
    The Macbook is THE ONLY Mac NOT to have Firewire.

    Shoot the author.
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 16 10:07 PM
    Apple used to take pride in their computers being very graphic artist and user friendly. How can they justify getting rid of a vital port for indie musicians and videomakers? Shame... the Mac guy is becoming PC
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 17 01:14 PM
    Pro models get FW. non-Pro models do not. non-Pro models like the Macbook have 13" screens, 1280x800, which are really too small to do serious FCP editing. Surely, a Pro can afford the amazing $2000 MBP? They can even get it refurb'd in a month or so for $1800, most likely. It'll have the bitchen graphics card too, just like a Pro model should have.

    What Apple has done, is drop FW for those who manage their harddrive with FW bootups. I do that, but my Macs laptops are both 5 years old. At the consumer level, FW has been dying a slow death. Apple dropped FW sync from its iPods a while back, and the iPhone lost FW power, in the 2nd generation. So, while FW is better than USB, it's become the Sony Beta to VHS; however it will live on just like Sony Beta at the professional level.
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 21 12:53 AM
    Interesting that it was not mentioned anywhere, but in some ways, Apple knifed its own baby. How so? Well, it was the original iMac from 10 years ago, that intro'd USB to the mass market. Until then, USB was having a hard time getting any traction. Apple dropped its ADB connectors for USB, and everyone had to get USB mice, and USB keyboards and USB printers and so on. So if FW has died in the consumer arena, Apple can thank itself for bringing about that change 10 years ago.
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 24 10:51 AM
    They should have included the firewire, the whole high end low end thing is nonsense. The mac mini has firewire!!! What the hell. We all don' t do video
    but fire wire can be used for Digital audio workstations. It was a really dumb idea not to include fire wire!!!!
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 27 07:24 PM
    What they did was give the MacBook some of the "goodies" that were previously only found in the "Pro" series of MAcBooks, like a metal case, LED backlit displays, and backlit keyboards, and took away Firewire so you need to step up to a "Pro" to get it.
    Most complaints are from people , who were actually "Pros" (using it for a business purpose) but using regular macbooks, getting their work done, and saving money.
    From Apple's view, that's "canabalizing&quo... of their higher end notebook computers. I actually use my plain macbook for my business, and get along fine. I only use the FW for external drives, but most that I have also have a ISB2 connector.
    I would likely still get the improved macbook, and get one of those wireless "vaults" Apple sell, for external disk storage.
    I would guess most of the FW ports on macbooks went unused.
    But no, Firewire is far from dead.
    Reply
  •  
    Oct 31 05:56 AM
    Just some thoughts
    1. you can boot from an external usb drive with an intel mac provided the drive has the guid partition scheme and formatted properly
    2. with a time machine backup you can use the usb to do a migration
    3. target disk mode is for fw only but since we are now in the era of time machine it should not be needed going forward
    4. most newer dv camcorders (past 2 years) have a usb 2 configuration that allows data to be transferred with usb instead - www.tuaw.com/2008/10/1.../
    5. there is pressure for apple to bring down the price of the lower end and one of the ways will be to remove
    6. Vista has dropped support for ip over firewire - gigabyte ethernet makes more sense anyway - I don't care, but it is another reason
    7. With more and more blu ray releases it is likely apple is starting to trim since adding blu ray is expensive and something has to go to make room - when apple dropped the 3.5 floppy they had no standard internal floppy or cd drive at all - you chose an external peripheral - maybe there will be a period of time like that again - they already do it with the macbook air
    Reply
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