“Last week we reported on an Apple invention relating to the iPhone or iPad Home Button doubling as a gaming joystick (Apple patent reveals Home button that doubles as a gaming joystick),” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple.
“It was so simple and yet so right,” Purcher reports. “I had noted at the end of that report that it was a nice feature, even though it wasn’t a total gaming solution. I guess the gaming gods wanted to remind us today that Apple indeed has other technology on hand to advance game-play functionality on iDevices.”
“The U.S. Patent Office published a patent application today revealing an invention that covers iDevices having sensors built into the backside of the unit giving gamers controller inputs resembling standard gamepad functionality,” Purcher reports. “The timing of this latest patent application in context to last week’s revelations confirms at minimum that gaming is one of the ways that Apple wants to advance the iPad in innovative ways.”
Purcher reports, “In this same very same patent application, Apple reveals their work regarding virtual keyboards for possible use with future iMacs and MacBooks.
Read more, and see Apple’s patent application illustrations, in the full article here.
Similar backside touch controls from Apple is an idea that goes back to the early days of the iPhone so wouldn’t necessarily presume it will come to fruition.