All New iDevice Dock Connector Called ‘Lightning’, New Headphones Called ‘Earpods’, Brand New ‘Loop’ Accessory For iPod touch

The main focus of attention at today’s Apple media event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco is, without doubt, the next-generation iPhone.
Fans have waited for months for this day to arrive, and despite the anticipation regarding the fruit company’s smartphone, it’s by no means the only thing on show at the event.

First and foremost, the 9-pin dock connector everyone’s been talking about will likely be called "Lightning," which is certainly in-keeping with the monikers of other Apple-specific ports, such as Thunderbolt and FireWire. It’s not definite Lightning will be the final name, but it is apparently what it’s being referred to internally as, and would certainly slot in nicely alongside the aforementioned Cupertino connectors.

The Lightning name also suggests we could be in for faster speeds than seen with the current connector. Most of the talk regarding the new port has been that it’s smaller, and packs in nine pins as opposed to thirty, but with the refreshed MacBooks offering USB 3.0, it may just be that transfer speeds to and from devices supporting this new connector cable will be faster.