Why Thunderbolt technology has not become popular, and whether it will repeat the fate of FireWire?

The emergence of Thunderbolt technology promises to revolutionize the market and it seemed that she-present harbinger of the future, which, however, has not yet arrived. This standard is still not too common - what is the cause and what are the consequences of this phenomenon? About this in his article, reflects Ben Lovejoy from 9to5mac. It was very interesting and we offer you a translation of the article in Russian language.

The following is the translation of Ben article, the narrative in the first person.

I'm a big fan of the Thunderbolt. One cable that transmits data and DisplayPort PCIe6 is an incredibly elegant approach, at least to eliminate the clutter of wires, even if you are not run after the data transfer rate. Especially if you are using Apple Thunderbolt Display as a USB-hub for your devices.

I admire the "smart" technology. Thunderbolt works with multiple devices by separating and combining the signals as necessary. Thunderbolt 2 was a step forward by combining two 10-Gbps channels into a single 20-Gigabit. It's really impressive.

Fast and "smart" technology, developed by Intel and deduced on the market Apple must quickly gain popularity, but, unfortunately, this is not happening. And all of this is reminiscent of Firewire.

Firewire is much superior to USB. Despite the fact that USB 2.0 declared speed of 480 Mbit / s, the real figures are much lower. Firewire 400 gave "honest" 400 Mbit / s, which in real terms has made it much faster than USB. Firewire 800 and USB does put on their knees.

But we all know that technological superiority does not guarantee commercial success. Mass market chose USB - in many ways, simply because it was cheaper.

Firewire is not dead. He is still used in many high-end devices, but it has definitely become a niche product. In the end Apple and removed the Firewire port of your notebook.

Thunderbolt now seems to be going the same way. Of course, it was not planned - in Intel expected that Thunderbolt will replace the USB into each computer. But that did not happen.

The reason - in USB 3.0. Yes, it is not so fast. Yes, it's not so good. But it's cheap, and it's familiar. You can almost count on fingers on a Windows PC with Thunderbolt ports. Perhaps it is no exaggeration to say that without Apple Thunderbolt would be dead.

The new protocol Superspeed USB with a capacity of 10 Gbit / s corresponds to the standard Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt and 2 - as well as Firewire 800 earlier - would not really shake the USB position on the market.

But there are glimmers of hope. Firstly, this new Mac Pro. They have as many as six ports of the Thunderbolt, and considering that each port can handle up to six devices, Apple clearly hopes to succeed in at least one segment of the market.

This video processing segment. Here you need the computer to transmit data at lightning speed across multiple displays, including 4K, and worked with a lot of external storage. It seems, Mac Pro will be just such a computer, and Thunderbolt 2 will be one of the key elements of its appeal.

Of course, the high cost of Mac Pro will not allow to become a mass Thunderbolt 2 protocol. But it seems to me that the Mac Pro is able to guarantee the existence and relevance of this technology - even in not very large volumes.

Another "trick» Thunderbolt 2 will appear in due course. It's about supporting multiple displays 4K. While these displays are still too expensive, but after a couple of years there will be in every home, and that there may come finest hour Thunderbolt 2.

But it may never come. DisplayPort and HDMI are also working with multiple high-resolution displays, and these techniques are well known and familiar. And what Thunderbolt makes it possible to use only one cable instead of a few does not make it a clear winner.

What is my prognosis? I am sure that Thunderbolt will remain on the market for at least another five years. But I'm not sure that these ports will remain in the MacBook at this time. I hope that I am wrong.