[clinton_sf]

I actually don't see a problem with Apple's MFi program. Back in 2013, a woman in China was electrocuted by her iPhone 4 due to a non-OEM charger:

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1283818/woman-electro...

To quote from the article: “Knockoff chargers sometimes cut corners,” Xiang said. “The quality of the capacitor and circuit protector may not be good, and this may lead to the capacitor breaking down and sending 220 volts of electricity directly into the cell phone battery.”

Apple trying to enforce its quality standards on the charging system seems completely reasonable -- yes, even if it means that the end-user has to pay for the quality. Most Apple customers are actually looking for that quality and willing to pay for it.

There is a great teardown analysis of Apple and knock-off chargers at Ken Shirriff's blog:

http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers-pr...

http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-...