Last week, we saw reports of a patent for storing Touch IDs in the cloud. This week, Apple has submitted its patents for game controller/keyboard accessories for the iPhone.
Apple Insider reported on Tuesday that Apple had submitted U.S. Patent No. 8,939,838 for an "Accessory for playing games with a portable electronic device" in 2009, when the latest iPhone was the 3G." This patent in particular is a small piece of equipment that is designed exclusively for a particular device - the iPhone in this instance. The device supposedly also had a keyboard-based function.
A quick look at the patent shows that Apple was clearly looking to the iPhone's gaming future. Most games at the time of the patent's submission were screen-centric and didn't require much control input. Any controls put on the screen would stand in the way of the game and may disrupt the experience. So, installing an optional controller that takes the buttons off the screen would improve the gaming perspective.
While Apple wasn't the only company to consider such an idea for the iPhone, its design seems to have more functionality than most. It had multiple-button sets that let gamers have a lot of variety. The gaming pad could have had multiple D-pads, joysticks and full-function action buttons. The device had built-in rumble feedback and could communicate with the iPhone wirelessly if a user wanted to. The controllers also could be used for wireless multi-player gameplay, letting multiple players play on the same device.
If users needed something to be more functional, the gamepad could attach a snap-on physical keyboard version of the controller. Finally, if the iPhone screen was too small, users would be able to stream the phone's data onto the bigger screen via the controller pad.
While this controller does sound like a lot of iPhone attachments we have in 2015, the device sounds like it would have been truly innovative in 2009. However, other companies came up with devices like the Moga Ace and its cousins. While it's not impossible that Apple could implement this device in the near future, it's unlikely, considering the rise of the third-party iPhone controller and iPad.
