Intel Light Peak promises transfer speeds up to 10 Gbps and has been considered both a replacement and complement to USB 3.0. New information suggests that Light Peak with its optical wires can appear next year already, but will probably not get that much market spread.
We have heard rumors that several major OEMs have chosen to put Light Peak on hold due to the limit usage, and since USB 3.0 already covers most needs.
But no speculations are going around that perhaps Apple – who recently confirmed it will hold off with USB 3.0 – may be interested in Intel’s new Light Peak technology. Apple has previously chosen external storage interfaces with high capacity, e.g. FireWire 800, even though they are rare on the PC market. While Steve Jobs recently pointed out that it does not support USB 3.0 since Intel hasn’t built in support in its chipsets.
There are even rumors that Apple had the idea for Light Peak, though this has been denied by other sources. But when Intel showed Light Peak in 2009 it was on an Apple system with Mac OS X. This further adds to the rumor that Apple may be the first to support Light Peak, perhaps next year already.
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