The new iPhone 5 Apple unveiled yesterday may be at least mildly cool (depending on which critic you listen to), but according to the Wall St. Journal (subscription required), it also may cause some angst for hoteliers, especially those who just finished putting iPhone docking devices in their hotel rooms. That's because the iPhone 5 has updated something called the phone's "Lightning connector," which is how you plug the gizmo into outlets, laptops, and the dock. Only now you'll need an adapter to fit it in the dock, which can cost $30 or more. Multiply that by a whole bunch of rooms, and it gets pricey. One hotelier's reaction, as recounted by the WSJ:
"'Oh God,' groaned Michael Mueller, chief executive of Dallas-based hotel chain NYLO Hotels LLC, after learning of the new iPhone dock connector from a reporter Wednesday afternoon.
Mr. Mueller said he has outfitted just about all of his 600 hotel rooms with clock radios that have iPhone docks at a cost, in his most recent order, of about $115 apiece. Now he says he will have to decide whether or not to replace all those radios and whether to pick the new or the old iPhone dock for the clock radios he plans to order for more than 400 rooms he has under construction."
Or I guess you can just assume people will bring their own? It may be something else to add to your tech site inspection checklist, anyway.
(Photo courtesy of methodshop.com on Flickr.com.)
