[bumbada]

>Does anyone feel it is a little strange to have a government entity mandating a physical interconnect?

I believe governments mandating interactivity standards is one of the main reason of its existence.

Before we had standards, like ISO on screws and so on mandated by governments, it was chaos.

>But on a phone it acts as a data connection as well.

Precisely, the data communication protocol should be open for anyone being able to interface with those devices without having to pay extortion rates for anything connected to a phone.

The fact that Apple demands 30% of my income if I create a keyboard for a phone because they control the interface is outrageous.