Apple’s iPad iOS 4.2 update this week has broken functionality with iPad Connection Kits and other USB-based devices, including ours.
Things that worked with iOS 3.2 may fail with the message “Cannot Use Device – The connected USB device requires too much power” on 4.2. The root cause appears to be that Apple lowered the allowed power draw of a USB device attached to the iPad’s connector from 100 mA to 20 mA (USB 2.0 spec is 500mA, so the previous limit already cut off many devices). Here is a little more background from a different affected device.
While some functionality of the our Connection Kit was unaffected (it will still work with compatible USB devices, if connected through a powered USB hub), even the SD interface is now over the new 20 mA limit.
We don’t know when/if Apple will fix this problem, and we never want to leave customers customers waiting for fixes like this. So we’ve halted all sales of this product. And fortunately we’ve got a direct channel to each of our customers through Amazon, so we’ve contacted each of them to offer refunds. Any customer we missed can always contact us by emailing their Amazon order # to support@plugable.com. Our apologies to affected customers – we will move quickly to get you fixed up.
