Dear Apple: If You’re Releasing a New Wireless Keyboard, Please Make it Work With iPhone
Dear Apple, if you’re releasing a new wireless keyboard, why not take this opportunity to make it work with iPhone? If the rumor-mill is to be believed, you’re set to release new iMacs and Mac Minis (and hopefully a 27″ or 30″ LED display!) perhaps as soon as next week (hey, there was a Spotlight Turns to Notebooks event last October!). And if the FCC filings are accurate, you’ll have a new multitouch mouse and wireless keyboard to go with them. Apple, in the name of everyone whining on the internet for it — let that wireless keyboard work with the iPhone.
You introduced enhanced peripheral functionality last March during the iPhone 3.0 SDK event, including dock and Bluetooth access, but you didn’t add the Bluetooth profile or any drivers for keyboards. That led to many sad, irritated messages sent our way via comments, email, and tweets. Now, with MMS in the US finally off your miss-list, wouldn’t it be nice to scratch external keyboard off that list as well? Since we haven’t even seen a beta for iPhone 3.2 yet, mightn’t you not introduce said drivers there?
No need to answer now. We’ll just wait for your next event (which we’ll be liveblogging right here at TiPb, ‘natch) and hope for the best.
October 16th, 2009 at 6:46 am
that would be nice, can any bluetooth keyboards work with it now?
October 16th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Why can’t a independent company just make one already? Via the 16pin connector while a bluetooth driver gets implemented by apple in te near future. I would think something like this would be in the works already.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:54 am
REALLY? I mean really? I have had my iPhone for a year and a half. I use the current wireless keyboard at home (just over a year).
And I can honestly say, I have never once thought “man, I wish I could use THAT with my iPhone”.
Really? Not only does Bluetooth suck the battery beyond belief, but the size of the iPhone screen alone would make the keyboard redundant if you have to keep pulling the phone up to your face to see what you just typed.
And I have written this post faster with 2 thumbs, than it would take to: close safari, open preferences, find Bluetoth section, turn it on, wait for pairing, close settings, open safari an then retype all of this.
October 16th, 2009 at 8:04 am
I still find it amazing to this day that just because SOMEONE doesn’t find something useful it immediatly negates any benefit for ANYONE.
Jeez, just because you don’t like the idea or wouldn’t use it, doesn’t mean no one else will :-/
(I also wouldn’t use one, btw)
October 16th, 2009 at 8:04 am
I want the trackpad to be on the keyboard. With multi-touch gestures it would work quite well with the iPhone!
October 16th, 2009 at 8:06 am
Will it fit in my other pocket? Is the current iPhone keyboard expected to suddendly stop working when the next wireless keyboard is released?
October 16th, 2009 at 8:29 am
LOL I just don’t see how it could possibly be useful to ANYONE.
The only way, would be if you leave your iPhone plugged in all the time and leave BT running… THEN it might be useful… But your iPhone wouldn’t be lol
October 16th, 2009 at 8:55 am
How could this not be useful?? I wouldn’t use it to type this into safari, but I would use it to take notes in class or to type papers. I wouldn’t even need my laptop If I could type papers on this thing.
October 16th, 2009 at 8:59 am
As a student it would be a lot easier to use my iPhone for taking notes if I had a keyboard to plug into it. I can type 90 words on a computer but no where near as close on my iPhone. I would rather not lug my laptop to class or add an entirely new device to my already ridiculous list of tech gadgets I carry around on a daily basis if I could just use my iPhone for it all!
That is why it would be useful to me atleast.
October 16th, 2009 at 9:48 am
I’m playing Switzerland here (no offence to any Swiss present) but I’m staying in the middle. I don’t think I would buy the new keyboard JUST for my iPhone but rather when I buy a new MacBook Pro this year or maybe next, I would use it then. And besides, I would use it all the time anyways, as, most of the time, it’s hard to carry around even a keyboard on my schedule. But I see where both sides are coming from on this story.
October 16th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I wouldn’t be purchasing a wireless keyboard for my iPhone, that would be more annoying then a slide out keyboard. I do not like this idea. Please ridicule my thinking, but I love my iPhone’s mobility and would much rather use my macbook over a wireless keyboard/iPhone option.
2 cents…
October 16th, 2009 at 10:27 am
I agree with elrick WTF do u need a keyboard for
October 16th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Is there any evidence this keyboard would be Bluetooth? Wireless does not automatically mean that. My wireless kb is USB as is my mouse.
October 16th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
I could see how it would be useful in combination with video and audio out.
October 16th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
@icebike
This wireless keyboard already exist as Bluetooth (as does Apple’s wireless mouse). It just doesn’t currently work with the iPhone.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
How about fixing the BT AVRCP first so I can stop pulling out my iPhone just to skip to another song or podcast. Fix the broken stuff first before you start adding other functions and features.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
What? Why the hell would you carry around a 12 inch keyboard with you just so you can use it to input text on a 3.5 inch screen?
October 16th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Make it a roll-up mat keyboard. That way at least we could pocket it, making it portable, for the people that would use it. Not saying I would, but I’d consider it more if I could fit it in my pocket.
October 16th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Geez, how obvious can this possibly be? Because the 12″ keyboard and an iPhone are STILL a lot smaller than my damn Powerbook. There are plenty of situations this would be really useful to me – like having to work while on the road. No, of course you wouldn’t go to the trouble to use it to post a reply to a blog entry – I can’t believe we’re even talking about that. But if I need to write an e-mail longer than about a paragraph, the damn iPhone keyboard is such a pain it would be well worth it to get BT turned on (or just plug in the keyboard) so I could type at a decent rate of speed.
I’m 100% onboard with Iain117 – if you don’t want the damn thing, don’t buy it. But kindly stop telling me that I shouldn’t want it.
October 16th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
This is dumbest idea ever. Your going to have to carry a backpack around with your keyboard.
October 16th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Apples response to this request:
“Um……..No.”
October 16th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I cannot believe people are this oblivious and don’t have the slightest clue why in the world world an iPhone needs a wireless keyboard!!
First off, the keyboard wouldn’t be to replace our current wonderful keyboard, you retards. So whether it fits in our pockets or not, the idea is not to carry it around everywhere you go. Do we carry our holding docks everywhere we go?
Primarily, the keyboard would be used for extended long emails, blogs, posts. Also, a student will benefit from a wireless keybaord in numerous ways- including in taking notes. Hmm what would a student prefer… Carry around a laptop or a wireless keyboard that is probably retractable??
The text would obviously be enlarged (zoom) when typing from a keyboard for the people in question of the caption being illegible due to screen size and distance away from the phone.
Come on people!!! Wake up, seriously.
I type 85 WPM. How could I not want a wireless keyboard is the question.
October 17th, 2009 at 6:34 am
If you have a jailbroken iPhone you can use Veency to use a keyboard with your Iphone. Yes I know you have to have your laptop with you but it is usefull. I would love to have a wireless keyboard to use sometimes.
October 17th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Man, people whine about something they wouldn’t buy! What’s the big deal? Personally, a full sized, foldable, external keyboard would be useful, especially one that is not wireless, so I would be able to write efficiently while on a plane without lugging a laptop.
Now, go ahead and tell me how much I don’t need it… Oh yeah, and how dumb an idea it is…
October 17th, 2009 at 10:03 am
I vote for a dockable keyboard, rather than wireless. Make it both battery and DC useable and send me the invoice.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I had a Newton with a keyboard. Came with a compact case. It was awesome and at that time WAY smaller than any laptop on the market.
I would gladly buy and use a keyboard that I could take with me on business trips. I pretty much leave my laptop at home now as it is when I travel. Would really make answering emails and writing out reports that could later be inserted into a word processor and formatted when I get back.
October 17th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Well, the guy wondered, perhaps bluntly, why anyone would want one–and you all responded with your reasons! That’s informative.
Now, I had a portable, pocketable keyboard with my Palm… it even fit into my shirt pocket! I used it twice at two different meetings and then never used it again. (It was easier to bring my laptop or to use Graffiti or the on-screen keyboard.) So, that’s another perspective…based on experience with such a combo. Those of you wishing for, hoping for, and some even clamoring for a bluetooth keyboard may discover that it really doesn’t help that much in actual use, that a large sized one, not foldable, as one for desktop Macs would be, won’t be convenient at all. You’ll buy it, use it a couple of times, and as I did, never use it again!
Of course, there will be yet a smaller minority who will buy it, use it, and love it–and that’s great!
Do we know if this is simply a software fix from Apple to make bluetooth in the i-devices workable with any bluetooth device? The rumors are abounding that they will soon turn on FM radio reception via software–which is pretty amazing!
October 18th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Not going to happen. Apple wants to sell you a laptop, not give you a way to have the equivalent of a laptop for 1/8 the price.
November 3rd, 2009 at 11:27 am
Wow. Lots of emotion on this topic! Reality is PocketPC’s have had external ThinkOutside foldup keyboards for over 10 years now. And they work flawlessly. Enough sold to have TO be acquired. When’s the last time you were on a plane and actually had room to open a full sized laptop? I used to use my PocketPC’s (ipaq’s for most of past 10 years…but now an iPhone die hard) on the road constantly. And I used them to feed powerpoint presentations to projectors all without a laptop. Apple REALLY needs to step up here and listen to the TOTAL market. This isn’t anything new. Microsoft Pocket PC’s have ALL THIS for a very long time. There is little risk. With 30,000,000 iPhones sold, they could probably sell 1,000,000 fold-up ThinkOutside keyboards overnight. Why type on a 3.5″ screen? Because when a thought surfaces or a document needs editing, if you have DocumentsToGo for instance, it is a no brainer to edit on-the-go with the iPhone (and an external keyboard). Again, this is an existing, proven capability for pocketpc’s for over a decade.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I started using a Stowaway keyboard with my Palm pilot over a decade ago. It was fantastic. Add my voice to those who want one for the iPhone. It is so useful for taking notes in meetings, classes, writing long things when you are on the road.
I think the critics either grew up without learning to touch-type, or are young enough that they haven’t yet experienced these needs. (Or are willing to lug around laptops everywhere.) I was looking at buying a netbook but I’d far rather have an iPhone with a keyboard I can bring along to meetings and on trips. Please!!!
January 9th, 2010 at 10:14 am
If you’re a nasty jailbreaker, you can already use your mouse and keyboard with your 3G+ iPhone using the app btstack mouse/keyboard.
Since the iPhone is somehow a tiny mac, which can also be connected to a monitor (you can push your iPhone screen via the app TV out to your cable connected TV or monitor ), once you connect mouse and keyboard to it, you can use it as a “fully” functional work mac, with the office suites available and the mail app and so on.
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