Most of the buzz about Apple's next version of iOS has been about its brand-new design direction, but iOS 7 will also bring about a number of under-the-hood changes. One of these, according to Apple's keynote, are new APIs (and MFi certification) for third-party gamepads. A tipster has alerted Kotaku to what is allegedly one of the first. The accessory, reportedly made by Logitech, looks like it has five buttons and a thumbpad at the very least, and it will connect to the iPhone (and perhaps the fifth-generation iPod touch) using an integrated Lightning connector.
While accessories like the iCade lineup have already tried to bring button-based gaming to iOS, the APIs will give hardware makers some consistent guidelines for building their own controllers. Apple's API will make supporting controllers a bit easier for developers. Rather than having to code specifically for an individual accessory like the iCade, they can now code for generic controllers and let gamers choose the ones they want.
However, since these controllers are still just add-ons, game developers looking to get the most bang for their development buck may simply continue to code for the input device that each iOS device is guaranteed to have: the touchscreen. Optional input devices and other hardware accessories built for traditional game consoles have historically had a pretty spotty rate of success—devices like Microsoft's Kinect have sold relatively well, but everything from Sony's PlayStation Move to Sega's old 32X failed to sell enough to gain significant developer support.
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