RIP Lightning: In lieu of flowers, please send dongles

A eulogy for the little iPhone port that could.

- DAN MOREN

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to bid goodbye to a titan of technology, a revolutionary among rebels, a connoisseur of connections, taken from us - well, perhaps not too soon. I speak, of course, of our friend and colleague, the Lightning cable.

When Apple unveiled its latest iPhone in September, the Lightning port was finally supplanted by one of its eternal rivals, the USB-C connection.

But let us not simply mourn what is being taken from us: Let us instead remember and celebrate what Lightning did with its life, the joy and happiness it brought to an entire ecosystem and its many users. Its presence will not soon or easily be forgotten.

A BOLT FROM THE BLUE 

Lightning was born on September 12, 2012 (fave.co/3PYJYQH), ushered into this world by Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller. Schiller touted the benefits it would bring over its predecessor, the 30-pin dock connector that had originated on 2003's thirdgeneration iPod.

"A modern connector for the next decade" was how Schiller presciently the new connector. (Had it been me, I perhaps would have gone for "a more elegant connector for a more civilized age," but I digress.)