Frequently Asked Questions

As one of the most more hardware-focused mobile development teams in the industry, we get a lot of questions about accessory development for iPhone and iPad, and mobile devices in general. Since some of the same questions come up time and again, we've answered a few right here.

Note that restrictions in the various hardware development agreements limits some of what we can describe on the website. However, we can provide additional information under NDA, and speak even more freely if you are registered with one of these programs. So please contact us.

1) Where can I find basic information on creating iPhone/iPod/iPad accessories?

The best is Apple's original event, the iPhone OS 3.0 Keynote, where they described the Accessory program for the first time (fast forward 16 minutes into the keynote).

Apple's page for the iPhone OS 3.0 Announcement
Engadget's Coverage of the iPhone OS 3.0 Announcement

You can also get useful information from:

Apple's MFi Program
Apple's Accessory Page

2) Can I use the iPhone bluetooth stack to ...

Connect to Headphones, Headsets, and Car Kits?
Apple article on connecting to A2DP and Hands-free accessories

Connect to Bluetooth Keyboards?
Support for Bluetooth keyboards was announced for iOS 4.0:

Apple's page for the iOS 4.0 Announcement
Engadget's Coverage of the iOS 4.0 Announcement

3) How do I develop Bluetooth Accessories for Blackberry and/or Android?

Blackberry Bluetooth Notes

4) I heard that Android is selling more than the iPhone. How many Android devices are there?

Wikipedia's List of Android Devices

5) Why isn't my question answered here?

Contact us to get answers to your other questions.