4 ms·

Where are the 3rd party hardware accessories for the iPhone?

13 points by asmithmd1 17y ago

seiji 17y ago
If you want to make your own iPod/iPhone hardware, apply at http://developer.apple.com/ipod/ http://developer.apple.com/ipod/ Last I check it requires multiple in-company points of contact and legal contacts before you start. You are charged a licensing fee for each unit sold and they revoke your access if you don't renew your contract with them. There are some iPhone in-car systems that stopped working because the manufacturer didn't continue paying Apple the appropriate licensing fees (so in the next software update, Apple disallowed that device from talking to the phone).
- grinich 17y ago
  It's true that the Made for iPhone program has more hoops to jump through than the software SDK, but it's not really that bad. You apply, they call you and ask a few questions, and then you're setup to order development parts.
joezydeco 17y ago
Okay, here's another question. What happened to the Apple/Kleiner-Perkins iPhone fund? There's a blog at http://ifundvc.com/ http://ifundvc.com/ but it's been updated once in the last 12 months. They promised $100MM in funds, but it looks like only 5 companies and $30MM was set up. Anyone else know anything? Did the App Store just take off faster than expected and this all became moot?
Timothee 17y ago
Excellent question! After the keynote presentation where this was introduced, I was really looking forward to see what would be invented. I thought it could open the door to a lot of cool things. An iPhone could basically become the interface to anything. I looked at the program to see if I could just kind of play with it and see what could be done, (maybe not do anything but at least start imagining projects) but as seiji is saying, it's not as easy as the iPhone SDK where a free account and a download allow you to give it a try: you need a real company behind it and hobbyists have no chance. Does anybody know if anything is possible through the jailbroken community? Can one do something on their own with the iPod/iPhone adapter?
- olefoo 17y ago
  Although it's very tempting to build highly integrated hardware extensions for the very sexy devices that apple makes there is a better way to go about building specialty hardware. Build for the wireless LAN. Adding a webserver and wifi interface to even a modestly sized hardware device is cheap and getting cheaper. Open Protocols win in the long term. Note that this means you should be able to reach most of the app phones on the market, and not be stuck with Vendor A's weird policy bugs.
  - Timothee 17y ago
    After writing my comment, I thought about it and realized that, yes, communication through WiFi just makes sense and is probably the easiest. (as in the given example of the universal remote once setup is done)
- ryanpetrich 17y ago
  Serial has been available since 1.x and has been used by a number of hobbiest hacks. Bluetooth has recently matured with the public version of BTstack (there are bluetooth keyboard and mouse apps available on Cydia and RFCOMM is available)

13 points by asmithmd1 17y ago

seiji 17y ago

If you want to make your own iPod/iPhone hardware, apply at http://developer.apple.com/ipod/ http://developer.apple.com/ipod/ Last I check it requires multiple in-company points of contact and legal contacts before you start. You are charged a licensing fee for each unit sold and they revoke your access if you don't renew your contract with them. There are some iPhone in-car systems that stopped working because the manufacturer didn't continue paying Apple the appropriate licensing fees (so in the next software update, Apple disallowed that device from talking to the phone).

grinich 17y ago
It's true that the Made for iPhone program has more hoops to jump through than the software SDK, but it's not really that bad. You apply, they call you and ask a few questions, and then you're setup to order development parts.

joezydeco 17y ago

Okay, here's another question. What happened to the Apple/Kleiner-Perkins iPhone fund? There's a blog at http://ifundvc.com/ http://ifundvc.com/ but it's been updated once in the last 12 months. They promised $100MM in funds, but it looks like only 5 companies and $30MM was set up. Anyone else know anything? Did the App Store just take off faster than expected and this all became moot?

Timothee 17y ago

Excellent question! After the keynote presentation where this was introduced, I was really looking forward to see what would be invented. I thought it could open the door to a lot of cool things. An iPhone could basically become the interface to anything. I looked at the program to see if I could just kind of play with it and see what could be done, (maybe not do anything but at least start imagining projects) but as seiji is saying, it's not as easy as the iPhone SDK where a free account and a download allow you to give it a try: you need a real company behind it and hobbyists have no chance. Does anybody know if anything is possible through the jailbroken community? Can one do something on their own with the iPod/iPhone adapter?

olefoo 17y ago
Although it's very tempting to build highly integrated hardware extensions for the very sexy devices that apple makes there is a better way to go about building specialty hardware. Build for the wireless LAN. Adding a webserver and wifi interface to even a modestly sized hardware device is cheap and getting cheaper. Open Protocols win in the long term. Note that this means you should be able to reach most of the app phones on the market, and not be stuck with Vendor A's weird policy bugs.
- Timothee 17y ago
  After writing my comment, I thought about it and realized that, yes, communication through WiFi just makes sense and is probably the easiest. (as in the given example of the universal remote once setup is done)
ryanpetrich 17y ago
Serial has been available since 1.x and has been used by a number of hobbiest hacks. Bluetooth has recently matured with the public version of BTstack (there are bluetooth keyboard and mouse apps available on Cydia and RFCOMM is available)