Apple is the first company to have Thunderbolt ports in their products (MacBook Pro and iMac) and their Thunderbolt ports utilizes the same port as DisplayPort (something similar with USB 2.o and eSATA combo port).

Sony is also a member of the Light Peak partner from Intel’s development program, so it’s not surprising to see Sony also implementing Thunderbolt in their products. However, it seemed that Sony would be taking a slightly different path compared to Apple.

Engadget revealed that the “Ultimate Mobile PC” teased by Sony above is actually the same VAIO Hybrid PC leaked by Sony Insider back in March said to feature an external dock with one USB 3.0 jack, HDMI, Ethernet, AMD Whistler discrete graphics, and a Blu-ray Disc writer. Naturally, the dock attaches to the VAIO’s Thunderbolt jack.

Oddly, Sony is going for a USB connector instead of the Mini DisplayPort used by Apple’s dual-channel 10Gbps Thunderbolt implementation. This is actually not something new. The first prototype interconnects demonstrated by Intel had combined a hybrid USB 3.0 connector with an optical interface and electrical connection to carry power. Sounds like a good idea right? But there’s a bad news.

A statement made by the USB Implementers Forum last summer expressing reservations with Intel’s proposed interconnect:

“USB connectors are not general purpose connectors and are not designed to be used in support of other technology applications or standards or as combo connectors.”

So has Sony worked out a licensing agreement with the USB-IF, or is this news untrustworthy.

SOURCE via Engadget