Japanese blog Macotakara (via AppleInsider) reports that Apple held a MFI Conference conference in Shenzen, China this past week. "MFI" is Apple's Made for iPod / iPhone / iPad certification program for accessory manufacturers.
During the talk, Apple reportedly revealed that they were going to provide a new certification chip for their MFI program to encourage more iOS-compatible accessories. The new chip will allow access to iOS devices over AirPlay, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. While Macotakara does not specify how this differs from the current program, the current program seems to be limited to physical dock accessories and specific AirPlay vendors.
In fact, TouchArcade recently touched on this fact in a recent article on iOS gaming accessories. TouchArcade noted that the reason why all the current gaming accessories such as the ThinkGeek iCade relies on Bluetooth keyboard emulation is due to the restrictions Apple has placed over bluetooth connections. It seems that this restriction will be loosened with the new certification chip, though details are sparse at the moment. TouchArcade suggests this could open the way to low-latency analog control sticks for iOS gaming.
Apple was also promoting the use of the new version of Low Energy Bluetooth 4.0 which was added in the iPhone 4S, noting that it could be used to support new applications in health care and gaming markets. We profiled the possibilities for Bluetooth Low Energy back in July.
Finally, Apple reportedly revealed that they would be adding support for AirPlay over Bluetooth.
During the talk, Apple reportedly revealed that they were going to provide a new certification chip for their MFI program to encourage more iOS-compatible accessories. The new chip will allow access to iOS devices over AirPlay, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. While Macotakara does not specify how this differs from the current program, the current program seems to be limited to physical dock accessories and specific AirPlay vendors.
In fact, TouchArcade recently touched on this fact in a recent article on iOS gaming accessories. TouchArcade noted that the reason why all the current gaming accessories such as the ThinkGeek iCade relies on Bluetooth keyboard emulation is due to the restrictions Apple has placed over bluetooth connections. It seems that this restriction will be loosened with the new certification chip, though details are sparse at the moment. TouchArcade suggests this could open the way to low-latency analog control sticks for iOS gaming.
Apple was also promoting the use of the new version of Low Energy Bluetooth 4.0 which was added in the iPhone 4S, noting that it could be used to support new applications in health care and gaming markets. We profiled the possibilities for Bluetooth Low Energy back in July.
Finally, Apple reportedly revealed that they would be adding support for AirPlay over Bluetooth.
"Apple seems to have a plan to expand AirPlay wireless devices market to be 7 times larger by promoting iPod Accessory Protocol (IAP) via Bluetooth implemented in iOS 5. AirPlay wireless devices has only 2% of MFI program licensed yet."
AirPlay is the name of Apple's streaming protocol that allows iOS 5 users to stream video and audio from their iOS devices to AirPlay compatible devices. AirPlay presently only works over Wi-Fi for iOS devices. We'd guess the support of Bluetooth for AirPlay is referring primarily to audio streaming (not video) to 3rd party speakers/receivers due to Bluetooth bandwidth limitations.
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