30-pin dock connector

The 30-pin Dock Connector is a proprietary 30-pin connector designed, developed and distributed by Apple. It was common to older generation Apple mobile devices (iPhone original, iPhone 3G, etc.) that was discontinued on September 12, 2012 following the adaptation of the Lightning cable of the iPhone 5, released on the same date.

Support
The iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S; 1st to 4th generation iPod touch, iPad, iPad 2 and iPad 3) were all supported from its introduction with the 3rd generation iPod in 2003 until the Lightning (connector) was released and replaced the dock connector in September 2012. Originally, the Apple dock connector carried USB, FireWire, some controls and line-level audio outputs. As the iPod changed, so did the signals in the dock connector. Video was added to the connector. FireWire was phased out of the iPods, which led to a discontinuity in usage of the dock connector.

As a result of the popularity of Apple's iPod and iPhone devices using the connector, a cottage industry was created of third-party devices that could connect to the interface.