> What mechanism can stop the £0.99 charge only cables people expect to plug in their portable hard drives though.
This has nothing to do with this Thunderbolt announcement, the situation would be the same even if only USB 3.1 was supported. However, the solutions are the same as ever:
1. Don't use charge only cables, buy cables that support charging and data. They're normally affordable.
2. Keep the charge only cable plugged in to your power source.
3. Mark the charge only cables with a sticker.
As for the Thunderbolt 3 announcement, it looks like there are three proposed cables, and it looks very likely that the passive and active versions will support both USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt 3. Perhaps the light based ones won't, but they'll be niche at first, unless Thunderbolt 3 takes off rapidly.
This has nothing to do with this Thunderbolt announcement, the situation would be the same even if only USB 3.1 was supported. However, the solutions are the same as ever:
1. Don't use charge only cables, buy cables that support charging and data. They're normally affordable.
2. Keep the charge only cable plugged in to your power source.
3. Mark the charge only cables with a sticker.
As for the Thunderbolt 3 announcement, it looks like there are three proposed cables, and it looks very likely that the passive and active versions will support both USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt 3. Perhaps the light based ones won't, but they'll be niche at first, unless Thunderbolt 3 takes off rapidly.