Hilarious that Apple has to "allow" you to use one piece of hardware you own with another. Only in the world of Apple would a $60 serial cable be news.
Hackers have been hooking up iPods for years. Apple doesn't mind it, and you don't need Apple's permission. The idea that Apple is "locked down" while others are "open" is silly.
When it comes to you, using your Apple hardware with any other hardware any way you want-- apple doesn't care. Strap C4 to both, and Apple won't care.
Just don't try and get a warranty repair after you blow it up.
What Apple does care about is people selling hardware that interfaces with its hardware. Apple wants to make sure that hardware doesn't run mains voltage across the Apple board os they get a stream of "mysteriously" dead iPhones.
Apple provides really first rate hardware support in all their Apple stores. I think a lot of people don't realize this. But they do. Often just replacing hardware if there's any debate, and even sometimes completely out of warranty.
The approval here is merely to sell an authorized accessory. If there's demand for these beyond the hobbyist market, the price will come down and others will make them.
If not, then the people who are using them don't care about spending $60. You could got to sparkfun.com or other such companies and get interface electronics to build your own in years past... this is just someone making one commercially to make it less hassle.
The prevalence of off brand cables that work with these devices make me wonder about the allegations of a proprietary crypto chip.
I use modern iOS devices and the worst that's happened to me is one would claim that something wasn't an "authorized" cable when I plugged it into a USB port that didn't provide enough current. (plugging it into one that does-- totally off brand USB power plug) works, though.
