iControl freaks
Apple watcher patentlyapple.com recently published the details of an Apple patent filed on 30 September 2008 for an accessory that will enhance the gaming experience for, its handheld devices - i.e. the iPod and the iPhone.
The patent describes: "A hand-held game accessory to physically receive a portable electronic device to enhance the playing of games, the game accessory comprising: a recess to physically receive at least a substantial portion of the portable electronic device; a plurality of input controls that may be actuated by a user while playing a game," etc...
You can see an image from the patent below. It looks like an attempt to turn an Apple handheld into something akin to a Sony PSP.
There's just one problem: a UK manufacturer published details of a pretty similar looking device, with the same aim, several months before this patent was filed, and called it the iControlPad.
The iControlPad project is run by Craig Rothwell, who is also one of the people behind the Pandora open-source handheld PC/gamer Pandora - which uses the TI OMAP 3430 SoC and is already on limited release.
Rothwell wrote a blog post entitled "An extremely sinister development" after reading about this new Apple patent, which was published on 1 April (and we doubt the US patent office is into playing April fools jokes). On 3 April he tweeted a vow to "post a public video on Youtube speaking directly to Apple." The next day, however, he decided to hold fire until he'd chatted to his lawyers.
The two videos below show the iControlPad first as it was around the time Apple filed its patent and then what it looks like now. We have no idea how much of a claim Rothwell has on Apple, but we don't envy him going up against its lawyers.
