In July, a report from Ars Technica took a look at the state of the Thunderbolt standard that was jointly developed by Intel and Apple. It noted that adoption was slow, and pricing was still high even after eighteen months on the market.
Ars Technica has now published a follow-up report looking at how things have changed over the past six months, pointing to a number of improvements such as slightly lower pricing on Thunderbolt cables from Apple, the introduction of the first wave of optical cables supporting the standard, and the launch of new docking stations and other peripherals taking advantage of Thunderbolt.
The report says the biggest sticking point to wider adoption of the standard seems to be Intel’s licensing and certification process. Some vendors claim Intel “cherry picks” which vendors to work with. The company itself says it merely works closely with vendors it felt could “offer the best products” and could meet its stringent “certification requirements.”
Jason Ziller, Director of Thunderbolt Marketing & Planning at Intel did indicate that Intel would be broadening its efforts during 2013, suggesting that more Thunderbolt products will be making their way into the marketplace.
Continued cost drops and Thunderbolt’s first forays into Windows machines could finally see 2013 as the year Thunderbolt begins to turn the corner.
