Originally Posted by
DBMandrake
The nature of the lighting interface (multiplexed pins) makes it impossible to make one without some sort of chip, however what I think you're grumbling about is that the chip also provides cryptographic "authentication" to the iDevice, without which communication won't be accepted. And that authentication key is per hardware manufacturer and must be licensed from Apple.
Grumbling about this requirement I do agree with, especially when rumours are the next generation iPhone will not even have a 3.5mm headphone socket, requiring a lightning adaptor for standard headphones...