Overview
Developed by Apple in the late 1980s, FireWire was a competitor to USB. It was superior to early USB versions because it supported peer-to-peer communication (devices could talk to each other without a CPU) and had more consistent data rates.
Legacy
FireWire was widely used in digital camcorders and professional audio equipment. However, it was eventually surpassed by USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt and is now considered a legacy interface.