There’s been a lot of discussion on the interwebs about the Lightning to 30-pin adapters. Charging $29 or $39 for these adapters, on the surface, seems like a major rip-off. I’d like to know more about the innards of these adapters before making my final judgment. I think it boils down to whether these are passive adapters or have circuitry in them. If the adapters are passive, they probably cost about 25 cents to manufacture. If there’s circuitry in them, it would cost a few bucks to make them. One possible reason for the circuitry is to provide analog audio. Apple noted that the Lightning connector is all digital. It’s possible that the adapters have digital to analog circuitry, which would justify their price.
Update: According to MacWorld, the adapters do indeed include a digital to analog converter. I’m sure we’ll see cheap knock-off adapters without the DAC. Those shouldn’t cost more than a few dollars, but buyer beware: If you need to connect your new iDevice to an older (analog) audio dock, you’ll need an adapter with a DAC.