My new iMac came with a strange USB cable

Hi-

The currently shipping iMacs do not come with any USB cables of any sort. In fact, the only cable in the box is a power cable.

Congratulations- you got yourself a free cable of some sort.

Rest assured, it is not necessary for proper operation of your iMac. If you would like us to tell you what it is for, take a photo of it, and upload the photo somewhere so we can see it.

sounds like it's a keyboard extension cord. it has a dimple in the middle preventing it from being used with anything other than the keyboard, which should have a "dented groove" on its usb connector.

I got one of those too when I bought a replacement wired keyboard and was confused about it's use. I'm a little disappointed Apple chose to make it a proprietary cable but at least now I know what it's supposed to be used for!

I'm a little disappointed Apple chose to make it a proprietary cable

I agree, it makes it more difficult to get a replacement, or if you want to extend the length of the cable.

Not really USB extension cables are pretty common, I just didn't need mine for my keyboard and wanted to use it for something else. Not a big deal at all.

you could probably "fix" it with an x-acto blade.

No I think I'll keep my finger and leave the cable as designed. 🙂