This week, Apple is holding a conference about its MFI accessory program in Shenzhen, China. With Apple recently adopting a new, smaller Lightning connector for much of its mobile product line, this year’s conference is an important one for accessory companies looking to develop products for new iPhones, iPads, and iPods. As with any Apple conference of the sort, information is starting to come out from attendees. Most notably, TUAW claims that Apple will require MFI licensees to follow the same supply and manufacturing code that Apple uses for its own products:
With Apple’s publicly stringent supply chain, one of the strictest in the consumer-technology industry, Apple potentially pushing down their own internal requirements to the companies making Apple product accessories is notable. As TUAW notes, this will require extra effort by the accessory makers. Additionally, details are currently slim on the reach of the guidelines and when they will be initiated:
